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By W. Max Reid 



The Mohawk Valley 

The Story of Old Fort Johnson 

Lake George and Lake Champlain 




The Kiiiiis of Foi-t (looi-jic, Lake (Jeorue. 



Lake George and 
Lake Champlain 

The War Trail of the Mohawk and the Battle- 
ground of France and England in 
their Contest for the Control 
of North America 

By 

W. Max Reid 



With 84 Illustrations from Photographs by 

John Arthur Maney 

and Two Maps 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 
New York and London 

XLbe Iknicherbccfter press 

1910 






Copyright, igio 

BY 

W. MAX REID 



Ube "Rnlcftetbocket ptete, "Hew B«k 



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r. 



©CI.A265389 



The manuscript is finished, the task is ended, the inspiration gone. All 
desire for success seems to have ceased, when, co-incident with the last chapter, 
the vital spark fled from the loved companion of my youth and manhood, to 
whose memory this book is dedicated, 

My Wife. 

" Misery treads on the heels of Joy ; 
Anguish rides swift after Pleasure." 

Ik Marvel. 



FOREWORD 

THE original scheme of this book was in the main 
pictorial. The diversity of picturesque scenery 
in and about the valley of Lake Champlain and the 
basin of Lake George, strongly tempted the author 
to prepare a volume that should be primarily made 
up of illustrations. But when I attempted to gather 
together the chronological history of these waterways, 
I was confronted with such a mass of gruesome and 
interesting material, that the text seemed likely to 
leave no room for the illustrations. 

Like the northern boundaries of New York, New 
France, and the St. Lawrence and Sorel rivers, the 
territory with which this volume concerns itself was 
the storm centre of many a conflict, that deluged 
with blood the shores of Lake Champlain and Lake 
George. Backward and forward for centuries, per- 
haps, the Aborigines had fought along the shores of 
these lakes, their fierce enmity ceasing not, until the 
feebler enemy was exterminated. 

A history of the wars of the Mohawks with their 
kindred would, in itself, if recorded in detail, make 
a large volume. It has therefore been found neces- 
sary to condense the narrative to make room for an ac- 
count of the conflicts between the white man and the 



vi Foreword 

dusky warriors, between the French and the British, 
and between the colonies and the mother country. 
There is no spot on American soil that has witnessed 
more battles, small and great, battles that were full 
of significance for two continents, than the narrow 
shores of these lakes. Men that live in history, whose 
names are inseparably connected with the attenuated 
lengths of these lakes, have attained victory or suf- 
fered defeat, under the shadows of their wooded 
mountains or on their crystal waters: Chief Hen- 
drick, Joseph Brant, Garonkonte, and Kryn the 
great Mohawk; Montcalm, Vaudreuil, Champlain, 
Tracy, Courcelle; Rogers, Putnam, Stark, and their 
rangers; Sir William Johnson, Lyman, Williams, 
Monro; Abercrombie, Lord Howe, Invarawe, Am- 
herst, with magnificent armies of trained warriors. 
Somewhat later we have, Ethan Allen, Arnold, St. 
Clair, Gates, Schuyler, Burgoyne, Riedesel, Baum, 
Sir John Johnson, and others; later still, McComb, 
victor on land in 1814, and MacDonough, who paral- 
leled his achievements on the water. 

And then we must not forget the struggles of the 
frontiersmen, the half-savage backwoodsmen, and the 
cultured men of wealth with dreams of baronial 
manors and seigniories; the black gowns, Jogues, 
Bressani, Fremin, and Pierron, self-sacrificing Jesuit 
priests, who traversed the " bloody trail " to endure 
torture and death. In the country back of the shores 
of the lakes, wild beasts of the forests, the more dan- 
gerous, wily savage, lurking in the fastnesses of the 
Adirondacks, and the venomous reptiles of the cliffs. 



Foreword vii 

made a passage along the " bloody trail," dangerous 
and often fatal. 

In writing a book of this " bloody trail," the diffi- 
culty has not been a lack of material, but rather the 
wealth of gruesome episodes enacted within its envi- 
ronment. In depicting them, the most authentic ac- 
counts have been sought, which have been condensed 
only by the elimination of the immaterial. The le- 
gends and the authentic tales give one a glimpse of 
the strenuous lives of the pioneers, who braved death 
and privation to wrest a precarious living from forest 
and plain. 



CONTENTS 



PAGB 



Chapter I 1 

The coming of Samuel de Champlain — Cartier — Ro- 
berval — Champlain — Early aboriginal occupation of 
the Champlain Valley. 

Chapter II 14 

Champlain's first battle with Mohawks — Champlain's 
second battle with Mohawks — Bixby's paper — 
Madame Helene de Champlain. 

Chapter III 83 

Henry Hudson — Hudson's River — Rivers of Lake 
Champlain. 

Chapter IV 38 

Early history of the Mohawks — First expedition of 
Tracy — Drowning of Corlear — Isaac Jogues — Lac 
du St. Sacrement — Naming of the river Chazy — 
Second expedition of Tracy. 

Chapter V 56 

Legend of Therese. 

Chapter YI 86 

Caughnawaga or Praying Indians — Popular errors 
corrected — Their early settlements on the St. Law- 
rence River — Kryn, the great Mohawk chief — 
Sufferings of the Jesuit priests — Withdrawal of 
converts from savage companions. 



X Contents 

PACK 

Chapter VII 96 

Mohawks not always victorious — Story of Piscaret, the 
Algonquin — Activity of Mohawks against the 
Hurons — Capture of Father Bressani — Cannibalism 
of the Mohawks. 

Chapter VIII 102 

The Great Iroquois council at Fort Johnson, June, 1755 
— Seven years' war — Battle of Lake George. 

Chapter IX 125 

Defence of Fort William Henry — Massacre of garrison 
— General Sir William Johnson. 

Chapter X 142 

General Abercrombie's attack on Fort Ticonderoga, 1758 
— General Sir J. Amherst's campaign, 1759. 

Chapter XI 150 

Lord Howe. 

Chapter XII 161 

Story of Major Duncan Campbell (Inverawe) — The 
Black Watch, forty-second royal highland regiment. 

Chapter XIII 169 

Abenakis — St. Francis Indians — Rale — Roubaud — Cap- 
tain Robert Rogers. 

Chapter XIV 182 

Major-General Israel Putnam. 

Chapter XV 194 

The capture of Fort Ticonderoga by Captain Ethan 

Allen. 



Contents xl 



PAGB 



Chapter XVI 209 

The capture of Fort Ticonderoga by Captain Ethan 
Allen — Continued. 

Chapter XVII 224 

Crown Point, 1731 (La Pointe de la Chevelure) — Fort 
St. Frederic — Fort Amherst — Tercentenary of the 
discovery of Lake Champlain. 

Chapter XVIII 229 

New Hampshire Grant — General Benedict Arnold — 
Evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga by General St. 
Clair — Fort George — Ethan Allen. 

Chapter XIX 247 

Ticonderoga, 1689-1758 — Ticonderoga to-day. 

Chapter XX 259 

Story of old Bill Harris — Bays within bays. 

Chapter XXI 270 

General John Burgoyne. 

Chapter XXII 276 

Bloody trail — The Iroquois legend of the mosquito. 

Chapter XXIII 285 

Floating bridge at Fort Ticonderoga — Major Skene — 
Whitehall (Skenesboro) — The killing of Jane 
McCrea— Fate of William Gilliland. 

Chapter XXIV 297 

The burning of the steamer Phoenix on Lake Cham- 
plain, September, 1819 — Plattsburg — River Richelieu. 



xii Contents 

PACB 

Chapter XXV ^»05 

Village of Lake George, formerly called Caldwell — 
Bloody Pond — The call of the wild — Prospect 
Mountain — Lost on the trail. 

Chapter XXVI o27 

Diamond Island. 

Chapter XXVII 332 

The forty-fifth parallel of north latitude. 

Chapter XXVIII 33() 

Bolton — Mohican House, en route north. 

Chapter XXIX 34!> 

Champlain Canal. 

Chapter XXX 353 

Pointe de la Chevelure (Crown Point). 

Chapter XXXI 362 

The last night at the St. Frederic. 

Acknowledgment 367 

Index 369 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACING 
PACK 



The Ruins of Fort George, Lake George. Frontispiece 

French Inscription on the Walls of Fort St. 

Frederic, Crown Point 8 

An Old Map, Fort St. Frederic 12 

Mount Independence and the Straits, from thb 

Grenadier Battery, Ticonderoga . . . . 14 '' 

BuLWAGGA Bay 16 

Down in the Moat, Fort Amherst .... 18 

The Crown Point Light, and the Narrows . . 20 

Chimney Point, Vermont. The Tap Room of Hotel 

St. Frederic 22 

The End of Old Ticonderoga — a Wall of the 

Fort 24 

The Ruins of the Ramparts of Old St. Frederic, 

Crown Point 28 

Hotel St. Frederic, Chimney Point, Vermont . 30 

The Great Falls of the Hudson, Glens Falls, N. Y. 34 

Moonlight and Chimney Point Light, Lake 

Champlain 36 

xiii 



XIV 



Illustrations 



The Ruixs of Old Fort Amherst, Crown Point, 
N. Y 



The Old Underground Passage to Lakk, Fort St 
Frederic, Crown Point .... 

Looking Out through Dunham Bay, Lake George 

Mount Defiance, from Old Fort Ticonderoga . 

Ti Creek and Mount Defiance .... 

In the Moat at Fort Ticonderoga . 

Ti Creek and Lake Champlain, from Mount Hope 

Rogers Rock, Ticonderoga Road, up the Lake 

Old Fort Frederic and Chimney Point, from the 
Redoubt of Old Fort Amherst . 

Ti Creek and Trout Brook Junction, Ticonderoga 

Old Fort William Henry, Rampart. Mohican 
Steamer 

In Cooper's Cave, Glens Falls, N. Y. . . . 

Battle Monument, Lake George. Chief Hendrick 
— General Sir William Johnson 

Fort Hunter on the Scoharie 

Fort Johnson, The Scene of the Great Confer- 
ence BETWEEN Sir William Johnson and the 
.Iroquois, July, 1755 

Champlain's First Battle with the Iroquois . 

Bloody Pond and French Mountain, Lake George . 



FACING 
PACE 



38 

40 
U 

48 
52 
58 
62 
66 

80 
84 

90 

98 

106 
112 

120 
128 
156 



Illustrations 



XV 



The Old French Entrenchments. The Scene of 
THE Charge ob" the " Black Watch " and Death 
OF Invbrawe, Ticonderoga 

An Old Print, 1842. Lake House and Prospect 
Mountain 



The Tottering Walls of Old Fort Amherst, Crown 
Point, Lake Champlain .... 

In through the Sally-port. Old Fort Amherst 
Crown Point 

The Fort Amherst Barracks, Crown Point . 

An Old Fort Amherst Doorway 

Gilliland's Mill, Salmon River 

Fort George, Lake George 

An Entrenchment at Fort George 

Plan of Part of Fort George . 

The Stern of Arnold's Flag-ship^ " The Revenge " 

The Underground Ovens, Fort Ticonderoga 

Old Fort Ticonderoga — Restoration . 

Prisoners' Island, from Howes Landing . 

Old Fireplaces, Fort Amherst, Crown Point 

Crab Island. Surf on Lake Champlain . 

A View of Ticonderoga .... 



FACING 
PAGB 



170 



104 



19G 

198 
202 
206 
210 
214 
216 
218 
222 
226 
228 
232 
238 
240 
244 



XVI 



Illustrations 



A Bit of the Old Grenadier Battery, Fort Ticon 
DEROGA, N. Y . 



The Mouth of the Saranac River. Cumberland 
Bay and Cumberland Head in the Distance 



A Trout Brook, Ticonderoga 

" Stranded " — Lake George 



Joshua's Rock, Home of Edward Egglbston, 
George 



Tea Island, Lake George . 

The Battle of Lake George, 1755 

The Old Mohican House, 1808 . 

" Adania," a Lake George Cottage 

Echo Bay and Rogers Slide, Lake George 

Hotel Champlain 

On the Wharf at Baldwin, Lake George 
On the Road to Bolton .... 
Bluff Point, Lake Champlain . 
St. James, Lake George Village 
MacDonough's Victory, Battle of Plattsburg 
Recluse Island, Lake George . 
Assembly Point, Lake George . 



Lake 



FACING 

PACK 



246 

248 
252 
256 

260 
264 
270 
274 
280 
290 
292 
294 
296 
298 
300 
302 
304 
306 



Illustrations xvii 



FACING 
PAGB 



The Road at the Head of Lake George. Prospect 

Mountain 308 

The End of the " Royal Savage," Lake Champlain 312 

The Road to the Landing — Ruins op Fort St. 

Frederic, Crown Point, 1731 .... 316 

On the Prospect Mountain Trail .... 324 

Post-Glacial Outlet of Lake George. Marshes at 

Head of Dunham Bay 328 

Stone's Bay and Rogers Rock, Lake George . . 330 

A Lake George Cottage of the Days Gone By . . 332 

Off the South End of Valcour Island. Scene of 

THE Sinking of the " Royal Savage " . . 334 

Diamond Island and Bay of Montcalm's Landing 336 

The Boundary Monument, United States and 

Canada 338 

Fort Montgomery at Rouses Point (Fort Blunder) 340 

Huddle Bay, Lake George 346 

North Bay, Lake George 350 

Mohican Cottage, Summer Home of W. H. Bixby, 

Bolton Bay, Lake George . . . , . 352 

The Little Church on the Hill, St. Sacrament, 

Bolton, Lake George 354 

" The Algonquin," Bolton, Lake George . . 356 

Silver Wavelets, Green Island, Lake George . . 358 



XVI 11 



Illustrations 



Huddle Bay, at Eventide, Bolton, N. Y. 
Silver Birches, Lake George . 
Buck Mountain and Pilot Knob 
Down through the Narrows 
Maps 



FACING 
PAUR 



. 360^ 
. 362 
. 364 
. 360 
At End 



Lake George and Lake Champlain 



Lake George and Lake Champlain 



CHAPTER I 

THE COMING OF SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN CARTIER 

ROBERVAL CHAMPLAIN EARLY ABORIGINAL 

OCCUPATION OF THE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY 

HTHE latter part of the fifteenth century may well 
^ be called the era of discovery, which set the 
whole civilized world on fire with the lust for gold and 
the desire to acquire new possessions. Although to 
Columbus and other adventurous Spaniards is given 
the honor of the discovery of America, modern re- 
search seems to point to the fact that the northern 
ice-bound coast of America was visited (although 
there is no evidence of an attempt to colonize) by 
the hardy Basque fishermen for the purpose of taking 
fish (codfish) on the shores of the mainland and 
among the islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It 
is said that this primeval people of the Pyrenees, 
older than history, frequented the cod-banks, and that 
Cabot in 1497 found the name " Baccalaos," the 
Basque name for codfish, in use among the natives 
when, on his first voyages, he visited the northern 
coast of America. The first third of the sixteenth 



2 The Coming of Champlain 

century witnessed many attempts to colonize which 
ended, in the main, in disaster. 

The search for the fountain of youth by Ponce de 
Leon resulted in the discovery of Florida in 1512. 
He was told, however, by the Indians of Cuba and 
Porto Rico that the fountain was to be found on 
the island of Bimina, said to be one of the Bahamas. 
This fountain was said to have such virtue that, 
bathing in its waters, old men resumed their youth. 
Others say that this wonderful spring was in Flor- 
ida. Parkman says, " The story has an explanation 
sufficiently characteristic, having been suggested, it 
is said, by the beauty of the native women, w^hich 
none could resist and which kindled the fires of youth 
in the veins of age." 

Giovanni de Verrazzano, an Italian explorer sent 
out by Francis I. of France, discovered Virginia, and 
sailed up the bay of New York in 1523. 

Jacques Cartier, a Frenchman, born at St. Malo, 
visited the Gulf of St. LawTcnce in 1534, and again 
in 1535, w^hen he ascended the St. Lawrence River 
as far as Montreal (Hochelaga) , and returning to 
Stadacone (Quebec), built a fort and spent the 
winter on those inhospitable shores. Cartier's third 
voyage was undertaken in 1541, for the purpose of 
colonization, having as a patron Jean Fran9ois de 
la Rocque, known to history as Sieur de Roberval. 
This expedition was composed of five ships, with 
colony and crews consisting of " many thieves, rob- 
bers, and other malefactors taken from prisons to 
complete the colony." Cartier (1541) sailed before 



Roberval 3 

Roberval who did not get away before April, 1542. 
Roberval's company was somewhat mixed, being 
composed of nobles, officers, soldiers, sailors, ad- 
venturers, with women, too, and children. At last 
the ships reached the Gulf of St. Lawrence and 
steered north to the Straits of Belle Isle and the 
dreaded Isle of Demons between the coasts of 
Labrador and Newfoundland. 

Of the women were some of birth and station, 
among whom was a damsel called Marguerite, a 
niece of Roberval himself. This young woman had 
formed an attachment for a young man, compara- 
tively well to do and of fine personal appearance, 
in every way an equal in station to Marguerite; but 
her uncle had conceived a hatred for the ardent lover, 
and it was probably for the purpose of separating 
them that Roberval conceived the idea of taking the 
j'^oung girl with him on his journey to the new world. 
But it is said that love laughs at locksmiths, and 
apparently at insurmountable obstacles as well. It 
was not until after a number of days' journey be- 
yond the Azores, that Roberval discovered the young 
man as a passenger on his own ship. The rage of 
the uncle knew no bounds, but he was powerless to 
get rid of him except by throwing him overboard or 
putting him in irons. This he could not do, so he 
had to submit to his presence, and was kept occupied 
frustrating the frequent attempts of the lovers to meet 
each other. Marguerite, in strength, physique, and 
temperament well fitted to entertain and also inspire 
a feeling of passionate love, defied her uncle, who 



4 The Coming of Champlain 

was scandalized and enraged at a passion which 
scorned concealment and set shame at defiance. 

The whole deplorable situation, with Marguerite's 
scorn for Roberval, enraged him to such an extent 
that he cast anchor at the dreaded Isle of Demons, 
haunted by devils, and peopled with wild beasts, 
landed his indiscreet relative, gave her four arque- 
buses for defence, and, with an old Norman nurse 
named Bastienne, who had pandered to the lovers, 
left her to her fate. The agony of Marguerite when, 
being landed on that fearsome island, separated from 
her lover and alone with her faithful nurse, she 
realized that death from starvation awaited them, 
was fearful to behold; and when the sails of the ship 
filled and its prow was turned to its interrupted west- 
ward course she called on her lover in shrieks of 
anguish, and threw herself prone on her face on the 
shore while her clinched fingers buried themselves in 
the sands of the beach. 

On the return of the boat, the ship continued on 
its voyage, but Fran9ois, her lover, having secured 
two arquebuses and a quantity of ammunition 
dropped silently and unnoticed into the surf and by 
desperate effort, swimming and wading, reached the 
beach. But the ships receded, vanished, and the 
forlorn occupants of that lonely isle were left alone. 

The approach of Fran9ois had been unnoticed by 
the two women and not until he stood over her and 
in a voice of anguish called, " Marguerite, my love," 
did the girl's voice cease its hopeless lamentations. 
Springing to her feet, her arms entwined about the 



Isle of Demons 5 

neck of her lover while he pressed her loved form 
to his breast, both unmindful of his drenched gar- 
ments and dishevelled appearance. After the first 
paroxysm of joj^ at their reunion had somewhat sub- 
sided, they became aware of the perils that sur- 
rounded them and listened in terror at the fearful 
sounds and dangers that encompassed them. It was 
then that they began to realize that strenuous action 
and not passive enjoyment of their love, was indeed 
necessary in order to protect their lives. Plenty of 
food for their immediate necessities had been left 
them by Roberval, but no habitation was to be found 
in their immediate vicinity. 

Amid the howling of the demons of the isle and 
the hoarse raging of the wild beasts of the forest, they 
set out to ascertain if any shelter could be found. 
Fortunately a rude hut of unhewn logs, erected by 
some Basque fisherman, was found at the edge of 
the forest. Although in a dilapidated condition it 
serv^ed very well as a means of defence, notwithstand- 
ing the fact that repairs would have to be made to 
protect them from the weather. The summer season 
was at hand and their hut was surrounded day 
and night by raging, hungry, clamoring beasts of 
prey, striving to force their frail barrier. 

The lovers had repented of their sin though not 
abandoning it, and Heaven was on their side. " The 
Saints vouchsafed their aid," says Andre Thevet 
(1586), "and the offended Virgin relenting, held 
before them her protecting shield. In the form of 
beasts or other shapes abominabty and unutterably 



6 The Coming of Champlain 

hideous, the hrute of hell, howling in baffled fury, 
tore at the branches of their sylvan dwelling ; but the 
celestial hand was ever interposed, and there was a 
vicM'less barrier which they might not pass. ]\Iar- 
guerite became pregnant. Here was a double prize, 
two souls in one, mother and child. The fiends grew 
frantic but all in vain. She stood undaunted amid 
these horrors." But her lover was heart-broken at 
the thought that through his love for this peerless 
woman, who seemed to thrive under all of the bur- 
dens, all of the hardships of their life, ever cheerful, 
ever vigorous, and of undaunted courage, she should 
be suffering all of the horrors of this dreadful isle. 
Francois took all the blame for their forlorn situation 
upon himself, protesting that if he had been less self- 
ish, if he had only refrained from following Mar- 
guerite to the ship and forcing his attention upon 
her, if he only had restrained his passion to a greater 
degree, she would be in the New World with her 
uncle, surrounded wath comforts and perhaps admira- 
tion, whereas instead of enjoying these advantages 
they were on this lone isle, and he in his weak con- 
dition not able to work or secure for her the food 
necessary for her existence. Dismayed, he sickened 
and died. Her child soon followed, then the old 
Norman nurse found her unhallowed rest in that 
accursed soil, and JNIarguerite w^as left alone. Neither 
her reason nor her courage failed her. For months 
after they had consumed the food left by Roberval, 
their subsistence consisted of the flesh of wild beasts, 
together with roots and herbs, berries, and other small 



Isle of Demons 7 

fruits, and nuts gathered and stored in their season. 
In fact their manner of living was more savage than 
that of the Indians themselves. With flint and steel 
and gunpowder they were able to create and main- 
tain fire, but their clothing had long been supple- 
mented by the skins of the beasts that were slain. 

When the demons assailed her she shot at them 
with her gun, but they answered with hellish merri- 
ment, and thenceforth she placed her trust in Heaven 
alone. There were foes around her of the upper no 
less than the nether world. Of these the bears were 
the most redoubtable; yet, being vulnerable to mortal 
weapons, she killed three of them, " all," says the 
story, " as white as an egg" 

" It was two years and five months from her land- 
ing on the island," says Andre Thevet, " when far out 
at sea, the crew of a small fishing vessel saw" a column 
of smoke curling upward from the haunted shore. 
Was it a device of the fiends to lure them to their 
ruin? They thought so and kept aloof. But mis- 
givings seized them. They warily drew near, and 
descried a female figure in wild attire, waving 
signals from the strand." 

Thus at length JNIarguerite was rescued and re- 
stored to her native France, where a few years later 
she told her story to the monk Thevet, a friend of 
Roberval. 

But what became of Roberval? Having left his 
niece on the Isle of Demons, he held his course and 
dropped anchor off Cape Rouge in the vicinity of 
the present city of Quebec. On the heights, his 



8 The Coming of Champlain 

company, consisting of two hundred men, women, 
and children, set at work with pick and spade, axe, 
saw, and hammer, and soon in the wilderness uprose 
a goodly structure, half bari'acks, half castle. " Here 
all of the colony were housed," says Thevet, " under 
the same roof; officers, soldiers, nobles, artisans, la- 
borers, convicts, w^omen, and children. In this struc- 
ture there were storehouses, but no stores, mills but 
no grist, an ample oven but a dearth of bread. 
Winter and famine followed, disease broke out and, 
before spring, killed one third of the colony. The 
rest would have quarrelled and mutinied, but disorder 
was dangerous under the iron rule of Roberval. One 
man was hanged for a petty theft, another was put 
in irons for a more venial crime. The whipping-post 
was in use for quarrelling men and scolding women. 
Six of his former favorites were hanged in one day, 
others were banished to an island and there kept in 
fetters, while, for various light offences, several, both 
men and women, were shot. Others escaped into 
the wilderness, trusting more to the friendship of 
the Indian savage than the justice of the white 
savage." 

The fate of the balance of the colony is unknown; 
although it is recorded that in the summer of 1543 
the King sent Cartier across the ocean to bring 
Roberval home. This ended the French occupation 
of Canada. More than sixty years elapsed before 
it was revived b}'- the coming of Samuel Champlain. 

After the voyage of Cartier-Roberval in 1541-42, 
no further attempt w^as made towards the coloniza- 



Champlain 9 

tion of Canada until the abortive attempt of Marquis 
la Roche in 1598 who ransacked the prisons and went 
to sea with a gang of thieves and desperadoes, in a 
vessel so small that the convicts, leaning over her side, 
could wash their hands in the sea. Landing at Sable 
Island he put ashore forty of the convicts, and with 
his more trusty followers, sailed away to explore his 
new dominion and to select a site for his new capital, 
to which he intended in due time to remove the 
prisoners. But suddenly a tempest arose and the 
frail vessel was forced to run before the wind, which 
eventually drove it back towards France, and the 
forty forlorn creatures were left without food or 
shelter. By hunting and fishing, part of their num- 
ber survived, although it is said that some of them 
quarrelled and killed one another, and that many died 
through disease. 

After five years. King Henry of Navarre, whose 
attention was called to this unfortunate body of men 
stranded on those distant shores, sent a ship to suc- 
cor them. Out of the forty men left by La Roche, 
only twelve were found alive and returned. 

This same year (1603) Samuel de Champlain, 
under the auspices of Aymar de Chastes, sailed for 
the new world. Francis Parkman says : " Like 
specks on the bosom of the waters the two pigmy 
vessels held their course up the lonely waters of the 
St. Lawrence until the mountains of Montreal reared 
before them. All was solitude, Hochelaga had van- 
ished; and of the savage population that Cartier 
had found here, sixty-eight years before, no trace 



lo The Coming of Champlain 

remained." (After numerous wars they had fled or 
been driven to the valley of the Mohawk and are known 
in history as the Terrible ^lohawks.) " Champlain, 
in a skiff, essayed to pass the rapids of St. Louis. 
Oars, paddles, and poles alike proved vain and he 
was forced to return. The savages told of rapids, 
and cataracts, and a chain of lakes above. Baffled, 
Champlain turned his prow homeward; the object 
of his mission accomplished, but his own adventurous 
curiosity unsated. When the voyagers reached Havre 
de Grace, Champlain learned that his patron, De 
Chastes, was dead." 

His mantle, however, fell upon Pierre de Gast, 
Sieur de Monts, who obtained leave to colonize Aca- 
dia or Nova Scotia, under the title of lieutenant- 
general in Acadia. 

A clause in his commission empowered him to im- 
press idlers and vagabonds as material for his colony. 
However, many men of character volunteered, and 
here too were Catholic priests and Huguenot min- 
isters, and with him went Champlain and Baron de 
Poutrincourt. 

De Monts sailed from Havre de Grace in 1604 
and in due time, while coasting about the Bay of 
Fonda, discovered the Bay of Annapolis. Poutrin- 
court was so pleased with the beauty of the country 
that he asked De Monts for a grant of that portion 
of Nova Scotia, which being given him, Poutrincourt 
attempted a settlement, naming it Port Royal. 

For three years Champlain spent his time explor- 
ing the coast, making charts of all the principal road- 



Champlain 



II 



steads and harbors, but the colony was not a success, 
and in October, 1607, the colonists gave up the task 
and sailed for France; but the following year (1608) 
Champlain, having suggested to De Monts that a 
point on the St. Lawrence would be a more eligible 
site for the seat of the projected new empire, was 
sent to the river during that year with Portgreve, 
and at Stadacona, an Indian village, founded Quebec. 

It is said that during the winter of 1608-09 Cham- 
plain's camp at Quebec was the scene of many a 
discussion, many a theory, in regard to the upper 
waters of the river St. Lawrence, and the stories of 
the Indians, told around their camp-fires in the 
hunting excursions in the forests in the vicinity of 
Stadacona, stirred the explorer's imagination to an 
unwonted degree. 

He heard of fearful rapids, long stretches of 
placid waters, and myriads of enchanting isles; an 
endless chain of lakes or inland sea, a cataract of 
prodigious height whose thunder could be heard miles 
away, and he was told of the terrible Iroquois, whose 
very name was a terror to the Canadian Indian, and 
of their long houses south of a great lake. There 
also he heard of the gateway to the Mohawks' coun- 
try (the most warlike of the Iroquois), a beautiful 
lake two days' journey long, nestling in a broad 
valley, with glimpses of towering mountains to the 
east and to the west. 

Like all explorers of early date, Champlain was 
in search of the mythical northwest passage, and in 
the great rivers and the great Iroquois Sea, he saw 



12 The Coming of Champlain 

the gateway to China. In fact the name, La Chine, 
as apphed to the great rapid, was given to it in 
derisive allusion to an expedition, projected by La 
Salle, to discover a route to China via the river 
St. Lawrence. His curiosity was excited, and as 
soon as the river was cleared of its melting ice, he 
set out upon a voyage to the Mohawks' country. 

The term pre-historic is somewhat elastic in its 
meaning, although its usual definition is, " previous 
to written history." In the old world this takes us 
back thousands of years, but in the new only a few 
centuries. In this country, however, it seems inter- 
changeable with the term pre-Columbian or previous 
to the discovery. In the Mohawk and Champlain 
vallej^s it generally refers to the period previous to 
1609. Along the Mohawk River are many evidences 
of Indian occupation, and three of the sites that I 
am familiar with (Otstungo, Garoga, and Cayadutta) 
are evidently pre-historic, as no relics have been found 
in the debris that would indicate that the Aborigines 
had ever been in contact with white men or traders, 
no objects of glass or metal having been discovered 
in these palisaded villages. 

INIany camp or dwelling sites have been discovered, 
but although celts, flint implements, and fragments 
of pottery have been unearthed, traders' beads, brass, 
copper, and iron are also in evidence. The fact that 
flint arrow and spear points are found scattered over 
so great an area has led many to the erroneous idea 
that this part of New York State was thickly popu- 
lated with Amerinds at an early period. But this 







:/: 



C3 
P. 

o 



Aboriginal Occupation 13 

was not the fact, as many of the so-called Indian 
sites are not villages, but fishing and hunting camps, 
or isolated, temporary dwellings. The fact that the 
Mohawks who lived in three small villages claimed 
about one hundred miles of the Mohawk Valley as 
their abode, and the Adirondacks and Champlain 
Valley as their hunting grounds and highway to 
New France, could never muster at their greatest 
strength more than six hundred warriors (and at the 
time of the Revolution, about ninety) would seem to 
prove that many of the sites along the shores of 
Lake Champlain, named in Beauchamp's Ahoriginal 
Occupation of New York, were hunting, fishing, and 
war camps of the Mohawks, occupied over and over 
again from year to year. 

That there was previous and permanent occupation 
of the Champlain basin seems reasonable, but whether 
such occupation was made by the Abenakis, Mahicans, 
Adirondacks, or some other Algonquin tribe will 
probably never be known. 

For more than a century hostile tribes passed back 
and forth over the clear waters of Lakes George and 
Champlain, and somewhat later, French and English 
armies met in mortal combat along their shores, but 
in all that time, for a century and a half, no evidence 
can be obtained of a permanent Indian village having 
been destroyed, or having existed in that vicinity. 



CHAPTER II 

CHAMPLAIN's first battle with MOHAWKS CHAM- 
PLAIN 's SECOND battle WITH MOHAWKS 

BIXBY's paper MADAME HELENE DE CHAMPLAIN 

ALONG the northern border of New York State, 
and in fact forming its northwesterly boundary, 
flows the great river St. Lawrence, its source the 
Great Lakes, its mouth the cold waters of the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence, seven hundred miles away. Some 
of the old maps include Lakes Ontario, Erie, and 
St. Clair to Port Huron, under the name of St. 
Lawrence River, the river of " les Mille Isles." 

A hundred miles south in the wilderness of the 
Adirondacks, in springs and rivulets gathering vol- 
ume as they flow, the great river of New York, the 
Hudson, finds its birth. To the east a lake is also 
born bearing the name of Scroon Lake and Scroon 
River, which winds through the sylvan scenery of 
the Adirondacks to increase the volume of the upper 
Hudson at Warrensburg. 

In July, 1609, Samuel de Champlain, only a year 
after his landing at Stadacona, afterwards named 
Quebec, sailed up the St. Lawrence in a small shal- 
lop with a party of Montagues Indians in canoes, 

14 




a 

C 









o 



i 



Champlain's First Battle 15 

until they came to the lake-like expansion of the 
river, called Lake St. Peter. At the upper end of 
the lake they turned the prows of their canoes into 
the Iroquois River (Richelieu), bearing directly 
south to the then unknown Lake Champlain. 

Champlain being anxious to see the country of the 
Mohawks, of whom he had heard so many fearful 
stories, and being eager to prevent the Montagues 
from destroying his feeble settlement while he was 
absent, had induced a body of these savages to organ- 
ize a warlike expedition against the Mohawks. The 
war party consisted of about eighty Indians, together 
with Champlain and two of his French soldiers. The 
Mohawk castles were situated in the Mohawk Valley, 
about three hundred leagues from Quebec. 

The fact that Champlain's account of the battle 
that subsequently ensued between his war party and 
the Mohawks states that the encounter took place in 
latitude 43° and some minutes ( ?) would indicate that 
they paddled nearly the whole length of the lake, as 
latitude 43° would be in the vicinity of the small 
stream which empties into Lake Champlain at the 
mouth of Lake George, south of Ticonderoga. 

Marc Lescarbot's account of the battle is as 
follows : 

" There has always been war between the Mon- 
tagues and the Mohawks, as there has been between 
the Algonquins and Etchmichins, and sometimes the 
Iroquois have raised as many as eight thousand ( ?) 
men to war against and exterminate all those who live 
near the great river of Canada. When Champlain 



1 6 Champlain 

arrived there with his Indians, they could not 
conceal themselves so well but they were perceived 
by the Mohawks, who always have sentinels of their 
enemies, and each side being w^ell fortified, it was 
agreed among them not to fight that day but to 
postpone the affair until the morrow. 

" The weather was then very clear, and in the early 
morning a din was heard throughout the camp. A 
Mohawk skirmisher having tried to issue from the 
fortification was pierced through by an arrow which 
stretched him out on his back. Full of rage the 
Mohawks took their places in the line of attack and 
defence. As the band of Mohawks advanced, Cham- 
plain, w^ho had charged his arquebus with two balls, 
seeing two Indians, whose heads were adorned with 
feathers, marching on in front, supposed they were 
two captains, and wanted to advance and aim at them, 
but was prevented by the Montagues saying : ' It is 
not well that they should see thee, for, never having 
been accustomed to see such peoples, as thou art, they 
would immediately run away. But withdraw behind 
our first rank and when we are ready thou shalt 
advance.' " 

He did so, and in this way the two captains were 
slain at one musket shot. Victory ensued at once, 
as the Mohawks fled and the Champlain Indians pur- 
sued, capturing some of their foes and obtaining corn 
and meal, beside numerous weapons that had been 
thrown away in the terror of the flight. 

Champlain records that the fight occurred in 
latitude 43° and some minutes (?). 




it 



M 



Champlain's First Battle 17 

Crown Point lies in 43° 55'. 
Ticonderoga " " 43° 50'. 
Whitehall " " 43° 35'. 

From the above, practically all that we can deduce is 
that the battle occurred at some point on the upper end 
of the lake, presumably in the vicinity of the mouth 
of Lake George at Ticonderoga. 

The few ounces of lead fired by Champlain and 
his two soldiers in this battle in the wilderness, cost 
France millions of francs and hundreds of lives. The 
two shots from arquebuses made the Mohawks, and 
through them the Iroquois, deadly, vindictive en- 
emies, who in later years desolated fair fields of grain, 
burnt innumerable houses, cut off their hunters, ter- 
rorized their Algonquin allies, destroyed the Hurons, 
and utterly paralyzed the Jesuit missions, by burning 
their chapels and torturing to death their faithful and 
fearless priests. In 1659 and 1660, New France was 
threatened with famine, and business was paralyzed 
on account of the farmers leaving their fields un- 
cultivated through fear of the Mohawks, who were 
constantly passing up and down Lake Champlain in 
small war parties. 

Champlain's object in organizing his war party was 
to penetrate to the home of the Mohawks in the ]Mo- 
ha wk Valley. Although the vicinity of Lake Champlain 
and Lake George was always called the JNIohawks 
country, they had no habitations there, but it was 
frequently visited by them for fishing and hunting. 
We have only Champlain's version of the first battle, 



i8 Champlain 

but there can be no doubt that the encounter on the 
lake was a surprise to him, as it was a check which 
prevented him from accompHshing the object of his 
journey. 

Although he records a complete victory over the 
Mohawks it seems to have quenched in him all de- 
sire to continue the journey, each party being prob- 
ably glad to hurry away from the scene of the battle. 
We are told, however, that in 1610 the Mohawks 
carried the war into their enemies' country, boldly 
advancing down the Richelieu, nearly to the St. 
Lawrence River. 

Here they were assailed by the Montagnes and 
Algonquins. The Mohawks, probably aware that a 
large body of their enemies were in their vicinity, had 
erected a rude fortification of logs, by felling trees 
and forming them into a circle with branches out- 
ward. Although outnumbered they calmly awaited 
attack. The Algonquins seem to have been the first 
to attack, after sending word for the white men and 
the Montagnes to hurrj^ forward. The first onset 
was repulsed, but the body of the INIontagnes, to- 
gether with Champlain and four French soldiers and 
a number of fur-traders armed with guns, soon ar- 
rived, surrounded the fort, and poured in a hot fire 
of bullets, killing many. 

It is said that the Mohawks fought so fiercely, and 
so bravely, that all but fifteen of the defenders were 
slain. Champlain was wounded in the neck and ear 
with a stone arrow, and one of his men met with a 
similar accident. It is said that one of the Iroquois 



Champlain's Battle, 1615 19 

prisoners was killed and eaten, and the balance 
reserved for torture at the homes of the victors. 

The number of warriors of the Iroquois was always 
greatly exaggerated by the French. In 1660 the 
INIohawks' fighting strength did not exceed five hun- 
dred, Oneidas' one hundred, Onondagas' three hun- 
dred, CajTigas' three hundred, and Senecas' one 
thousand men. 

In 1711 the ISIohawks could not muster more than 
one hundred warriors. It is said that the great Chief 
Hendrick had no more than ten men. During the 
Revolution only ninety Mohawks were with Joseph 
Brant. 

The policy of Champlain in dealing with the Iro- 
quois was very indiscreet, and he capped the climax 
in 1615 when he was induced by the Hurons to lead 
a large body of that nation in an attack on the Onon- 
dagas at some point in INIadison County. Although 
taken by surprise, the Iroquois retired to their 
fortified village and beat off their enemies. 

Champlain and his twelve Frenchmen assisted by 
the Hurons built a tower that overtopped the pali- 
sade, and with his guns drove the Iroquois from their 
galleries, but the Hurons not daring to follow up the 
advantage gained, the Frenchmen were obliged to 
retreat. Champlain was wounded, and the Hurons 
discouraged fled, bearing their commander away on 
a rude litter. 

These attacks on the Iroquois at both ends of the 
Confederacy aroused all of the tribes to bitter enmity, 
which lasted for a hundred years. Standing like a 



20 Champlain 

bulwark between the French and the English, they 
stopped the encroachment of the French, and assisted 
materially in destroying the new French Empire in 
America. 

I have followed Champlain from France to the 
Champlain Valley, describing the battles with the 
Mohawks in 1609 and have given the usual inter- 
pretation of his manuscript based upon the degrees 
of latitude given, 43° and some minutes, which locates 
the place of encounter, at or near Ticonderoga. 
After recent investigation of the shores of the lake, 
a re-reading of the manuscript and a paper prepared 
by Dr. George F. Bixby, I am very much impressed 
with his (Bixby's) arguments, which place the scene 
of the first battle at Pointe de la Chevelure (Crown 
Point Peninsula) instead of Ticonderoga. 

Passing by the early part of Champlain's journey, 
I will make extracts from Dr. Bixby's paper which 
bear on the locality of the battle. 

The party consisted of Champlain and two other 
Frenchmen and sixty savages, with twenty-four birch- 
bark canoes. They set out from the fall of the 
Iroquois River, at Chambly basin, on the 12th of July, 
1609. Champlain in his journal describes the journey 
up the Richelieu and along the west side of the lake, 
and proceeds thus (Prince Society's translation) : 

" Now as we began to approach within two or 
three days' journey of the abode of their enemies 
w^e advanced only at night, resting during the day. 
. . . When it was evening we embarked in our canoes 
to continue our course and, as we advanced very 







bJD 



Pointe de la Chevelure 21 

quietly and without making any noise, we met on 
the 29th of July the Iroquois, about ten o'clock at 
evening, at the extremity of a cape which extends 
into the lake on the western bank {au bout d'un cap 
qui advance dans le lac du coste d' V Occident). 
They had come to fight. We both began to utter 
loud cries, all getting their arms in readiness. We 
withdrew out on the water, and the Iroquois went 
on shore, where they drew up all their canoes close 
to each other and began to fell trees with poor axes, 
which they acquire in war sometimes, using also 
others of stone. Thus they barricaded themselves 
very well." 

If we consider Crown Point the place of encounter, 
we can imagine that the cove where the canoes of 
the Iroquois were drawn up as being near the site 
of Old St. Frederic and their fort as being on the 
higher ground with the forest close to the bluff. 

" As soon as we had landed, they began to run 
for some two hundred paces toward their enemies, 
who stood firmly, not having as yet noticed my com- 
panions, who went into the woods with some savages." 

Then follows the battle and the killing of the chiefs 
by Champlain's gun, and the retreat of the Mohawks. 

" After gaining the victory our men amused them- 
selves by taking a great quantity of Indian corn and 
some meal from their enemies ; also their armor, which 
they had left behind that they might run better. 
After feasting sumptuously, dancing and singing, we 
returned three hours after with the prisoners. The 



22 Champlain 

spot where this attack took place is in latitude 43° 
and some minutes, and the lake was called Lake 
Champlain." 

In his explanation of the map accompanying his 
account of the battle, he says : " The canoes of the 
enemy were made of oak bark, each holding ten, 
fifteen, or eighteen men." 

This is Champlain's account of the battle, and 
he says, farther on, that they returned down the 
lake eight leagues the same day and halted toward 
evening; also that the Montagnes had scalped all 
those they had killed in battle. 

Dr. Bixby continues: 

" ^Vhere is the ' cape which extends into the lake 
on the western bank,' that Champlain describes as 
the scene of the first battle of Lake Champlain? 
Nearly all, if not quite all, authorities agree that it 
was at or near the spot where Fort Ticonderoga was 
afterward built, and where its ruins now stand." 

Brodhead {Hist. N, Y., vol. i., p. 18) says: " On 
the map which accompanies his work, Champlain 
marks the place where the Iroquois were defeated as 
a promontory a little to the northeast of a small lake 
by which one goes to the Iroquois, after having passed 
Lake Champlain. These particulars seem to iden- 
tify Ticonderoga as the spot where the first encounter 
took place between the white men and the red men 
on the soil of New York." 

Dr. Bixby quotes numerous other authorities, but 
none of them agree on the exact spot, but all seem to 
locate the scene of the battle at or near Ticonderoga. 



Pointe de la Chevelure 23 

Dr. Bixby says: 

" This is a strong array of authorities which it may 
be presumptuous to question, but attention is called 
to a few plain facts bearing on the matter. Cham- 
plain's maps, his picture of the battle, and his jour- 
nal, together with the natural conformation of the 
western shore of the lake, are the chief points of 
interest in the case. 

" On this great map Lake Champlain appears with 
its islands and rivers and outlines, drawn as near na- 
ture as one might expect from data gathered during 
one trip through it with a war party of savages. 
On the west side, three rivers, only, are marked on 
this map north of the outlet of Lake George. It 
will be remembered that Champlain travelled up the 
lake on the west side, and very slowly, taking seven- 
teen days from Chambly basin to reach the scene 
of the battle — only about seven miles a day. Here, 
then, on this western shore, if anjnvhere, we may 
certainly expect accurate mapping, and, more espe- 
cially, when it is remembered that Champlain dis- 
tinguished this lake above all other localities which 
he discovered or explored, by giving it his own name." 

Dr. Bixby continues: 

" What three rivers are these which he marks ? He 
would hardly have missed the great Chazy River, 
with its broad estuar}^ for the most northerly one. 
Going southward he would naturally pass the hidden 
mouth of the Saranac River, three miles westward 
from Cumberland Head, across Cumberland Bay, 
and he might easily have missed it, as he did the 



24 Champlain 

mouth of the Merrimac in passing down the At- 
lantic coast in 1605. The great Au Sable River he 
could hardly have failed of seeing, and he must, un- 
doubtedly, have seen the Boquet River, which has 
the appearance at its mouth of being the largest 
of the three mentioned, although it is the smallest. 
The three rivers, then, which Champlain marked for 
the west side of the lake were, probably, the Chazy, 
the Au Sable, and the Boquet, there being no river 
between the most southerly one, the Boquet, and 
Ticonderoga at the outlet of Lake George. On his 
map Champlain marked the ' cape which extends 
into the lake on the western side,' veiy distinctly, and 
placed by it the figure 65, referring to his explana- 
tion of this as ' the place on Lac Champlain where 
the Iroquois were defeated.' Now this cape, the only 
one marked on the western side of the lake on Cham- 
plain's map, is represented on that map as being 
about equi-distant from Lake George and the south- 
ernmost of the three rivers, the Boquet, which is about 
forty-five miles north of the outlet of Lake George, 
or Ticonderoga; Crown Point being between these 
points, about fourteen miles north from Ticonderoga. 
The testimony of the map, then, seems conclusive 
against the hypothesis that the battle was at Ticon- 
deroga, which lies directly at the outlet of Lake 
George. 

" We next come to the journal of Champlain, and 
his description of the scene of the battle : ' The ex- 
tremity of a cape which extends into the lake on the 
western bank.' Now, there is no spot in the vicinity 




0; 



< 



C3 

fclj 
O 



a; 



Pointe de la Chevelure 25 

of Ticonderoga or between Crown Point and Ticon- 
deroga which answers to this description, the little 
jutting points along that shore having no resemblance 
to capes extending into the lake." 

In regard to the Ticonderoga site the Doctor says: 

" The place which has been designated as the scene 
of the battle is about half a mile north of Fort Ticon- 
deroga. Here the shore trends to the southeast for 
a short distance, but there is no cape there. The 
water there is shallow all along the shore, being 
marked on the United States Coast Survey as only 
six inches deep, and it will be readily seen that the 
heavy oak-bark canoes of the Iroquois, each carrying 
ten to eighteen persons, could not have landed there." 

As this expedition was undertaken about the mid- 
dle of July the lake was probably at its normal depth. 
During flood time it is much deeper. 

" Where then was it fought? 

" I believe all the reliable evidence in the case points 
to Crown Point, where the French erected Fort St. 
Frederic, their extreme outpost in 1731, the ruins of 
which, with enclosing earthworks, are still visible near 
the northern shore, while farther inland stand the 
stone barracks of the Amherst fort. 

" Here is a locality which perfectly answers to 
Champlain's description of ' a cape which extends into 
the lake on the western bank,' and here is the only 
spot, at the extremity of the cape, and thence around 
to the head of Bay St. Frederic, as the French 
named it, now Bulwagga Bay, where the western 
shore trends to the northward, and the only spot on 



26 ^ Champlain 

the western side of that part of Lake Champlain, 
where a skilled warrior like Champlain, and savages 
like his allies, would have been likely to attack their 
foes from the left and north, rather than from the 
right and south. In fact this is the only point along 
the entire west shore of Lake Champlain where the 
shore line takes a northerly direction, with the excep- 
tion of Willsborough Point, about thirty miles north 
of Crown Point, where the shore is a precipitous bluff. 
Crown Point also corresponds with Champlain's map. 
Take the United States Coast Survey of the lake 
and reduce it to the scale of Champlain's map, and 
Crown Point stands out as distinctly beyond the gen- 
eral shore line as does the cape which is marked on 
Champlain's map, as the location of the battle, and 
Crown Point also approximates in position to this 
cape, marked on Champlain's map as between Ticon- 
deroga and the Boquet River. 

'' Again, all the old French maps marked Bul- 
wagga Bay, the shore of which terminates in Crown 
Point, as the head of Lake Champlain, and that por- 
tion southward as Wood Creek. The lake above this 
point certainly partakes more of the character of a 
river than a lake, especially from Crown Point to 
Ticonderoga, being but a little over a mile wide in 
the entire distance of fourteen miles, while at some 
points it is only a third of a mile wide. Is it pos- 
sible that so close an observer as Champlain, acting 
under his king's command would have neglected to 
mention this remarkable change in the contour of the 
lake, had he traversed this portion, or that he would 



Pointe de la Chevelure 27 

not have called it a river, as he called the outlet a 
river as far south as Rouse Point or Windmill 
Point, although that outlet for thirty miles below 
Rouse Point averages nearly or quite as wide as 
does this part of the lake between Crown Point and 
Ticonderoga ? 

" The fact that on his map no indication appears 
of this remarkable narrowing of the lake into a river 
certainly affords good basis for the assumption that 
he never saw this portion of the lake, and that Crown 
Point was the southern limit of his exploration of 
Lake Champlain. ]Mark in this connection Cham- 
plain's language already quoted : ' The spot where 
this attack took place was in latitude 43° and some 
minutes, and the lake was called Lake Champlain.' 
Thus the evidence of the journal and the map and 
the battle picture indicate that Crown Point, and not 
Ticonderoga, was the scene of the battle." 

Here I think Dr. Bixby makes a strong point but 
dwells upon it too briefly. 

Champlain's drawing of the battle places the Iro- 
quois at the right of the Montagues, and he relates 
that his part}^ came upon them suddenly, both parties 
in their canoes, on the lake near the shore, and that 
they were so surprised that the Iroquois made for 
the shore while the Montagues paddled into the lake. 
This meeting took place at ten o'clock at night. The 
Iroquois at once arranged their canoes and threw up 
a barricade of trees, probably for protection against 
attack by night, as it does not appear that they used 
their simple fort during the battle. The picture of 



28 Champlain 

the battle shows that Champlain took his position to 
the left of the Iroquois whose number exceeded the 
Champlain party three to one. 

This position was undoubtedly taken by Champlain 
in order to retreat the way they had come, or down 
the lake to the north if they were defeated. This 
was undoubtedly done after deliberation, as they had 
the whole night before them. With the over- 
whelming force against them, Champlain would 
not have taken his position toward the enemy's 
country. 

If the attack was made near Ticonderoga they 
would not have taken a position south of the Iroquois 
because in case of defeat they would have been in a 
trap and totally annihilated. Dr. Bixby says that 
Crown Point's west shore is the only place on the 
lake where the Montagues could take a position on 
the left, that would allow him to retreat to the north 
in case of defeat. This I think is a strong point 
and one that has not received the attention it deserves. 

Dr. Bixby calls attention to many errors Champlain 
made in taking the latitude with his primitive as- 
trolabe and says: 

" Thus, in Champlain's first exploration in Canada 
in 1604, he marked the harbor of St. Margaret, now 
Weymouth harbor, on the southern shore of St. 
Mary's Bay, as in latitude 45° 30', an error of 1° 
7'; the true latitude of the island of St. Croix is 45° 
37' and he made it 46° 40', an error of 1° 3'. He 
made a point in the Richelieu River north of Chambly 
basin in latitude 45°, an error of some 45'." 







M 



« 
u 



Pointe de la Chevelure 29 

Dr. Bixby surely brings forward strong arguments 
to enforce his claim. That he will be able to 
establish his theory after all of these centuries is 
somewhat doubtful. 

You will remember that Champlain in his journal 
says that the Indians told him: "It was necessary 
to pass a fall to go there " and in parenthesis, " (which 
I saw afterwards)." 

The fall refeiTed to must have been the fall on 
Ticonderoga Creek. Everybody concedes that. Bixby 
explains that he did not say that he saw the falls, 
and that Champlain meant that " afterwards he saw 
that it was necessary to pass the falls," in going to 
the ]Mohawks' country, and that probably he learned 
it through the Iroquois prisoners. 

If the battle was at Crown Point he surely did not 
see the falls. This had been a strenuous day. Pre- 
paration had been made after daylight; the approach 
was deliberate, although the attack was probably of 
short duration; a pursuit was had through the woods, 
but in the end the Montagues were glad to get away 
quickly from their formidable enemies; they paddled 
twenty-four miles (eight leagues) down the lake, 
made camp, and tortured their prisoners " and still 
it was only towards evening." Champlain did not 
have much time for exploration and was only too 
glad to put distance between his party and the 
terrible Mohawks. 

INIany pages have been written of Samuel de Cham- 
plain, as an explorer, colonizer, soldier, and a devout 



30 Champlain 

churchman, but httle has been told of his early life, 
or his domestic life in New France. 

We are told that when about forty-two years old, 
having been born between 1567 and 1570, he entered 
into contract of marriage with Helene Boulle, a girl 
of twelve j'^ears (born 1598) daughter of Nicolas 
Boulle, private secretary to King Henry IV. ( Henry 
of Navarre). 

It will be remembered that Champlain, in 1600, 
made a voyage to the Caribbean Sea, touching the 
Venezuelan coast and visiting the City of Mexico, 
returning to France the latter part of the same year, 
covered with laurels as a sailor and explorer. All 
at once he became a noted man. King Henry, always 
quick to discern merit, formed a liking for the 
straight-forward and enterprising young traveller, 
and out of the royal funds, settled on Champlain a 
small but assured life income to enable him to live 
at court. 

Here he became a gentleman of leisure, frequently 
coming in contact with the King and the notables of 
France and necessarily the society of the ladies of 
that profligate court. Helene Boulle, the daughter 
of the King's private secretary, must have known 
many of the ladies of the court of France, noted in 
history. 

Helene was born a Huguenot, following in the foot- 
steps of her father. Although a child she must have 
been familiar with the personal appearance of many 
of the celebrated women of the court of Henry IV., 
^Margaret de Valois, the sensuous wife of the 



Hel^ne de Champlain 31 

King, Gabrielle d'Estrees, his mistress, and Marie 
de' JNIedici, his second wife. At this period King 
Henry had renounced his rehgion and had become 
a CathoHc king. 

On a wintry JNIonday, in December, 1610, a group 
of people were gathered in a dingy law office in 
Paris to sign a contract of betrothal between Helene 
Boulle, a child of twelve years, and Samuel de Cham- 
plain, a soldierly looking man of forty-two years. 

The romance of the courtship could not have lasted 
more than a few weeks, but as Helene was still a 
mere slip of a girl it was arranged that, although a 
marriage contract should be signed, and a formal 
ceremony performed, she should continue for two 
years to live with her parents. 

Two days later in the historic old Church of St. 
Germain I'Auxerrois a ceremony of betrothal was 
performed, followed the next day, December 30th, by 
the formal ceremony of marriage. Helene went back 
to the home of her parents, and Champlain turned 
his steps again to New France. 

In INIay, 1611 Champlain went up the St. Law- 
rence to the rapids, and in the vicinity of Montreal 
he named an island " St. Helene " for his little be- 
trothed, who at the time was demurely going to 
school at an Ursuline convent in Paris. 

Champlain, in his frequent voyages to France, saw 
as much as possible of his child-wife. At the time 
of her betrothal she was a Huguenot and continued 
to follow the religion of her father, but Champlain 
was a sincere, though never a bigoted, Catholic. 



32 Champlain 

Under the teachings of the nuns, and the influence 
of her husband, her plastic mind was moulded to his 
own belief, but it was not until 1620 that he brought 
his young Catholic wife to Quebec, where she remained 
for four years. 

It is said that Quebec presented a very forlorn and 
desolate appearance to the beautiful young French 
girl. " The buildings were falling to ruin, the court- 
yard was squalid and dilapidated, her companions, 
the swarthy, half-naked Indians and coureurs de hois, 
and the dirty squaws. It is true that there were a few 
nuns that could speak French, and were congenial 
companions to Madame Helene Champlain, but for 
the four years that she remained in Canada, her time 
was passed chiefly in admonishing dusky squaws and 
catechising their children. On her return to France 
in 1624-25 she desired to become a nun. Champlain 
refused, but as she was childless, he at length con- 
sented to a virtual, though not a formal separation." 

After his death, however, she gained her wish, be- 
came an Ursuline nun, and while yet a novice founded 
a convent at Meaux. She died at this convent, on 
December 20, 1654, with a reputation almost saintly. 



CHAPTER III 

HENRY HUDSON — HUDSON'S RIVER — RIOTERS OF LAKE 
CHAMPLAIN 

LJENRY HUDSON was bom about the middle 
■^ -^ of the sixteenth century. As a navigator he was 
first employed by some English merchants. His first 
voyage as explorer was made in 1607, as the records 
say that he sailed from Gravesend on May 1, 1607, 
in a small vessel manned by only ten men and a boy 
— the latter being his son — his object being the myth- 
ical north-west passage to India, that ig?iis fatuus 
of the navigator, which, though illusive, led to many 
notable discoveries. 

He coasted along the eastern coast of Greenland 
until stopped by the ice pack, and fought ice-floes 
and storms for many weeks, and then returned to 
England, in September, the only fruit of his voyage 
being the discovery of the island of Spitzbergen. 
Neither he nor his employers were disheartened, and 
late in April, 1608, he sailed again, expecting to make 
a passage between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla to 
the east, but was again compelled to turn back. His 
employers were now discouraged and Hudson went 
over to Holland and offered his services to the Dutch 

3 33 



34 Henry Hudson 

East India Company, which they accepted. In 
April, 1609, he sailed from Amsterdam in the Halve- 
Maen (Half -Moon) , a staunch vessel of ninety tons, 
and steered for Nova Zembla, still attempting to find 
a north-east passage to India. Again he failed to 
make his way through the ice. Determined not to 
return to Amsterdam with his task unaccomplished, 
he sailed around the southern shores of Greenland, 
still searching for a north-west passage. Again he 
was repulsed by the ice. Sailing southward, he dis- 
covered the American continent off the coast of 
Maine, and in Casco Bay repaired his ship. Still 
ciniising southward he discovered the Cape of Vir- 
ginia. Returning northward he entered the New 
York Bay on September 2d, and on September 12th 
entered as " beautiful a river as could be found," and 
on September 19th came to anchor near the site of 
the present city of Albany, still searching for the 
north-west passage. A further exploration by some 
of the crew in small boats, leagues farther north, dis- 
abused the mind of Hudson of the theory that he 
had found the gate to India. 

He remained at this spot until the 23d, when he 
weighed anchor and dropped down the river about 
six miles. In the morning he continued down the 
river, stopping occasionally to fish and trade, and, as 
he records, to fight off the Indians who came out to 
his vessel at various places, until, on October 4th, 
" we came out of the mouth of the great river." 

In reading the diary of his encounters with the 
Aborigines, I cannot resist the thought that in many 



Hudson's River 35 

instances he displaj^ed unnecessaiy cruelty to the In- 
dians, not in repelling their attacks but prompted by 
the fear that they would attack. 

On October 5th he sailed for England, where he 
arrived on November 7, 1609, and where he was 
detained by King James as an English subject, for 
the monarch expected to derive benefit from Hud- 
son's discoveries. Hudson, however, had sent the ac- 
count of his discoveries to the Dutch employers, the 
Dutch East India Company, and therefore defeated 
the object of King James I. for the time being. Hud- 
son named the river, Grande River. In 1615 it was 
called Prince ^laurice's River; later, the River Mau- 
ritius, Manhattan River; in 1633, North River, and 
]March 12, 1664, was officially called Hudson's River 
by Charles II. 

Thus, in the same year and almost the same month, 
Hudson and Champlain entered into the Mohawks' 
country. Sylvester in his Northern New York says : 

" From these explorations by navigators in the in- 
terests of rival powers, there sprang up conflicting 
claims to the territory of northern New York. Out 
of these claims arose a long series of bloody conflicts 
between the French and the English and their re- 
spective allies, of which the soil of northern New 
York, and particularly that of Lake George and 
Lake Champlain, formed the battle-ground, or the 
avenue by which the battle-fields were reached, until 
the brave Montcalm yielded to the chivalrous Wolfe 
one hundred and fifty years afterward on the plains 
of Abraham. 



36 Henry Hudson 

" Since these discoveries and explorations three 
centuries have passed away, and how manifold and 
vast are now the human interests that lie stretched 
along lakes and rivers, which are still linked with 
the names of those three kindred spirits of the olden 
time, romance-loving explorers, each immortalized 
by his discoveries — Jacques Cartier, Samuel de 
Champlain, and Henry Hudson." 

But cruelty to Aborigines seems to have been char- 
acteristic of the acts of the early explorers in their 
efforts to civilize the natives of the New World. 
Even the followers of Columbus were not guiltless in 
their treatment of the mild natives of Hispaniola 
which, as in the case of Champlain, aroused the In- 
dians to retaliation, and led to horrible atrocities. 

Among the rivers that fall into Lake Champlain 
are the Chazy, the Boquet, the Sable, and the Saranac. 

The Boquet River rises in the deep gorge of the 
Hunter's Pass, which lies across the Boquet moun- 
tain range between Mounts Dix (4976) and Nipple 
Top (4644). The bottom of this mountain gorge 
is 3247 feet above the level of the sea and in it also 
rises the Scarron River, that flows in a contrary 
direction into the Hudson. 

The Boquet, which like the Scarron gives its name 
to one of the five mountain ranges of the Wilderness, 
is said to derive its name from the French word 
haquet, a trough. This was suggested by the fancied 
resemblance of the contour of its bed in its estuary 
at its mouth. It was in this estuary that General 










'a 
o 
o 



Rivers of Lake Champlain 37 

Burgoyne rested his army for some days in treaty 
with his Indian alHes. 

The Au Sable, the twin sister of the Hudson, in 
the awful abyss of the Indian Pass, was named by 
the French in allusion to its sandy bed near its mouth, 
from sahle, the French word, as the reader knows, 
for sand, gravel, etc. 

On the headwaters of the Au Sable, under the 
shadows of the old giants of the Adirondack range 
lies the little hamlet of North Elba now so famous 
as the forest home of John Brown of Ossawatomie 
memory. 

On this river three miles from Port Kent, is the 
celebrated Au Sable Chasm. 

The Saranac flows from the chain of lakes of the 
same name, which are well known and frequented by 
tourists. 

From the Vermont side we have the Missesquoiat 
at the extreme end of the lake opposite Rouses Point, 
the Lamoille, the Winooski, Otter Creek, and other 
small streams and at the extreme southern end near 
Whitehall, the Poultney River. 



CHAPTER IV 

EARLY HISTORY OF THE MOHAWKS FIRST EXPEDITION 

OF TRACY DROWNING OF CORLEAR ISAAC JOGUES 

LAC DU ST. SACREMENT NAMING OF THE RRTER 

CHAZY — SECOND EXPEDITION OF DE TRACY 

CADWALLADER GOLDEN, once Lieutenant- 
Governor of the Province of New York, was 
regarded as the best informed man in the New World, 
on the affairs of the British- American Colonies. He 
says: 

" The French settled in Canada in the year 1603, 
six years before the Dutch possessed themselves of 
New Netherlands, now called New York, and found 
the Iroquois at war with the Adirondacks, the dis- 
tinctive name of a tribe of Algonquin Indians in 
Canada, which, they tell us, was occasioned in the 
following manner: 

" The Adirondacks formerly lived three hundred 
miles above Trois River (Three Rivers) where now 
the Ottawas are situated; at that time they employed 
themselves wholty in hunting, and the Iroquois made 
planting of corn their business. By this means they 
became useful to each other by exchanging corn for 
venison. The Adirondacks, however, were proud of 

38 







o 






o 






Early History of the Mohawks 39 

their more manly employment, and despised the Iro- 
quois for following a life or business that was de- 
grading to a warrior, and which they thought was 
only fit for women. 

" But it once happened that the game failed the 
Adirondacks, and they asked some of the young Iro- 
quois to assist them with their hunting, in order to 
provide food for their families. These young Iro- 
quois soon became much more expert in hunting and 
better able to endure fatigue than the Adirondacks ex- 
pected or desired, and they became jealous of them, 
and one night murdered all the j^oung Iroquois they 
had with them. The Iroquois (or the Mohawks) 
complained to the chiefs of the Adirondacks of this 
inhuman act, but they contented themselves with lay- 
ing the blame on the murderers, and ordered them 
to make some small presents (which was a custom 
among the Indians) to the relatives of the murdered 
youths, without being apprehensive of the resentment 
of the Mohawks; for, at that time, they looked upon 
them as men not capable of taking any great revenge. 

" This, however, provoked the JNIohawks to that de- 
gree that they resolved by some means to be revenged ; 
and the Adirondacks being informed of their inten- 
tions, thought to prevent them by reducing them by 
force to their obedience. 

" The JMohawks, who then lived near where the city 
of Montreal now stands, defended themselves at first 
but faintly against the vigorous attacks of the Adi- 
rondacks, who forced them to leave their own coun- 
try and hide themselves in the forests of the Mohawk 



40 Early History of the Mohawks 

Valley a number of miles north of the Mohawk River. 
(Two or three camps have, in late years, been found, 
each about five miles north of the river, one on the 
Cayadutta and another on the Garoga Creek. From 
the absence of all metal tools or articles of European 
manufacture, these are thought to have been the early 
homes of the wanderers, a decade or two before 1609.) 
Having heretofore been losers in war, they applied 
themselves to the exercise of arms, in which they 
daily became more and more expert. Their sachems, 
in order to raise these embryo warriors' spirits, turned 
them against the Satanas (probably Shawnees), a 
less warlike tribe, who lived on the banks of the 
lakes. The Mohawks soon subdued this tribe and 
drove them out of their country and their confidence 
in their own prowess being thus raised, they defended 
themselves bravely against their old enemy the Adi- 
rondacks, and often carried the war into their own 
country with such vigor that thej^ forced them, at 
last, to leave it and establish themselves in that part 
of the country where Quebec was afterward built. 

It was not long after this that Champlain and his 
people arrived and settled Quebec, and being de- 
sirous of gaining the friendship of the Adirondacks, 
offered to go with a war party against the JNIohawks. 
The battle which subsequently took place, in which 
the Adirondacks, with the assistance of Champlain, 
defeated the Mohawks, has been described in a former 
chapter. 

About this time the INIohawks were able to procure 
firearms from the Dutch, and, being well disciplined 




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Isaac Jogues 41 

and great strategists, and being led by skilful chiefs, 
were enabled, in subsequent years, to defeat and 
totally annihilate their ancient enemies, the Adi- 
rondacks. 

One of the most picturesque characters of the early 
settlement of the New World, at once a scholar, 
priest, and a Christian in the broadest sense of the 
word, honest, brave, self-sacrificing, who made his 
whole life a martyrdom, for whom no hardship was too 
great, no suffering too severe, if it led to the saving 
of a soul from hell, a disciple of Loyola, whose last 
words were, " Be thou unto the Church as it were a 
corpse," was Isaac Jogues, martyr and saint. Of the 
Society of Jesus to which he belonged Francis Park- 
man has said : " There never was a society of men 
in whom there was so much to admire and so much 
to detest as the Jesuits." 

Of all the Jesuits of America who lost their lives 
in the service of the Church, Jogues and Jean Bre- 
beuf deserve special mention. They were scholars 
and gentlemen. Jogues was fitted for the drawing- 
room or the university; Brebeuf was a cavalier, a 
soldier. Jogues was a delicate personality, all ner\xs 
and compact muscles of steel; Brebeuf, a perfect 
specimen of handsome, muscular humanity. Bre- 
beuf lost his life through fiendish torture by fire in 
the north Huron country; Jogues was killed in the 
INIohawk valley by a stroke of a hatchet which cleft 
his brain. Both, however, suffered death by the 
hands of the IMohawks. The story of Jogues's death. 



42 Early History of the Mohawks 

in all of its gruesome details, has been told so often 
that I will not repeat it here. 

Sylvester has said : "In olden time, in the vast 
wilderness of the northern Continent from the 
frozen ocean to the flowery gulfland, many bright, 
fair lakes lay sleeping in its awful solitudes, their 
waters flashing like gleaming mirrors, lighting the 
sombre desolation like jewels in an iron crown; but 
the fairest and brightest of them all was Lake George. 

" It was a gem in the old wilderness. Of the thou- 
sand lakes that adorn the surface of northern New 
York, there is none among them all to-day so fair, 
none among them all so like ' a diadem of beauty ' 
as Lake George — its deepest waters as bright and 
pure as the dew-drops that linger on its lilies." 

In August, 1642, Father Isaac Jogues, Rene 
Goupil, and Guillame Couture, all of whom were tor- 
tured to death in the Mohawk Valley within the space 
of four years, paddled over Lake George, the first 
white men to gaze on its unrivalled beauty. 

During the year 1642 Rene Goupil met his death 
by the hands of their captors. Jogues, however, es- 
caped, maimed and scarred, to France. 

Returning to his labors undismayed and undaunted, 
he journeyed to the Mohawks' country, in 1646, as an 
honored peace ambassador, and was received by the 
]Mohawks, with tokens of honor and friendship. It 
was on this his second voyage over the lake, that he 
named it " Lac du St. Sacrement," because he reached 
it on the feast of Corpus Christi. Invited by the 
Mohawks to live among them and establish the 



Lac du St. Sacrement 43 

Mission of the Martyrs, he departed for Canada as a 
messenger of peace. In the autumn he returned to 
the Mohawk valley full of zeal and energy, only to 
meet death by the stroke of a hatchet, a martyr to his 
faith and duty.^ 

Lac du St. Sacrement is a name given by Father 
Isaac Jogues to that body of water, which was in 
1755 changed to Lake George by General Sir 
William Johnson. It was called Horicon by 
Cooper, a corruption of the word Hirocois, which 
is the old spelling given to Lake Iroquois by the 
French as early as 1610. The name Hirocois was 
also applied to the river Richelieu, as the " River 
of the Iroquois." 

You may look through all of the vocabularies of 
the French and Indian tongues and you will fail to 
find a more beautiful name for this beautiful lake 
than that given by Jogues in his religious fervor, on 
May 28, 1646, when for the second time he passed 
up its attenuated length as an ambassador of peace 
to the INIohawks. 

This journey was one of pleasure and high resolve. 
He had passed through torture by savages and 
through suffering and privation at the hands of un- 
sympathetic white men. Once accorded the scant 
hospitality of a beggar and an outcast, when he pre- 
sented himself to his Jesuit brothers in France, he 
had subsequently been received by them and by the 

1 The capture and suffering of Father Jogues is told in the 
Mohawk Valley, page 41. 



44 Early History of the Mohawks 

Archbishop of Paris with sympathy and high honors, 
had had his maimed hand kissed by the Queen, and 
the court of France, and had a special dispen- 
sation granted him by Pope Urban VIII. that 
removed the ban which prevented a priest whose 
hands were mangled from celebrating the Holy 
Sacrament. 

Did not this thought, together with the coming of 
the feast-day of Corpus Christi, influence Jogues in 
selecting this name, Lac du St. Sacrement, for the 
lake that he had discovered and which had witnessed 
his direst despair and his greatest exaltation as a 
messenger of i^eace, the apostle of the Mission of 
the Martyrs to the Mohawks? 

I think so. I wish the name had never been 
changed. Why not, yet, perpetuate the name of Lac 
du St. Sacrement somewhere within its border, either 
on monument or on church, or as the name of some 
local society? Or better still, perhaps, would be a 
massive tablet to his memory, erected on some small 
island in the vicinity of Bolton Bay, rebaptized Isle 
du St. Sacrement. 

In 1664-65 efforts were made by the Onondaga 
chief Garakontie to establish a treaty of peace be- 
tween the Iroquois and the inhabitants of New 
France, but the intention of the French to administer 
chastisement to the Mohawks and Oneidas prevented 
the full accomplishment of the desire of the Onon- 
dagas. For two or three years the government of 
New France had been persistent in urging King 




<D 

bJ3 



c 

a 



to 



fee 



First Expedition of De Tracy 45 

Louis XIV. to send troops to America to extermi- 
nate or overawe the proud Mohawks. 

Accordingly, in 1665, JNIonsieur de Courcelle was 
sent out as governor, and Marquis de Tracy as lieu- 
tenant-general, with the Carignan-Salieres regiment 
of veterans, to accomplish this object. The first four 
companies that amved, June 30, 1665, w^ere sent for- 
ward at once to seize advantageous positions on the 
river Richelieu, which was on the direct route to the 
jNIohawks' country, and to erect certain forts. Other 
companies of the regiment soon followed, making a 
force of one thousand soldiers. For this purpose 
three advantageous positions were chosen and forts 
built; the first at the mouth of the Richelieu, the 
second about fifty miles farther up at the foot of 
Richelieu Falls, named St. Louis, and the third, 
about ten miles above the rapids, named St. Theresa. 
From this last fort there was easy access to Lake 
Champlain, one hundred and fourteen miles long, 
ending in the Mohawks' country. 

Notwithstanding the arrival of many ambassadors 
of peace from the Five Nations, who were aware of 
the arrival of the French troops, and of the prepara- 
tions which were being made for a warlike expedition 
against the INIohawks, Governor de Courcelle felt 
sure that no good could be expected from the JNIo- 
hawks and Oneidas, unless they were intimidated 
by a display of force. Accordingly De Courcelle left 
Quebec on January 9, 1666, with three hundred of 
the veterans of the Carignan-Salieres regiment and 
two hundred Canadian volunteers. This expedition 



46 Early History of the Mohawks 

via Lake Champlain seems to have been the most 
foolhardy and abortive of the many efforts of New 
France to harm the Mohawks. The weather was 
bitter cold, even for a Canadian " habitant," and by 
the third day of the march, many of the soldiers had 
their hands and feet and other parts of their bodies 
frozen, while others had their legs and hands cut by 
the ice, and a number, wholly overcome by the in- 
tense cold, would have perished if they had not been 
carried to shelter and left behind. However, their 
places were filled by soldiers withdrawn from Fort St. 
Louis and Fort Theresa. A more difficult or longer 
march than that of this little army from Quebec can 
scarcely be met with in history. Every one had snow- 
shoes on his feet, although none save the Canadian 
volunteers were accustomed to their use. Each man 
had to carry twenty-five or thirty pounds of food 
and equipments, and make his way as best he could, 
over ice and snow for three hundred leagues, sleep- 
ing in the snow in the midst of forests, and enduring 
a cold surpassing by many degrees in severity that 
of the most rigoiTJUS European winters. Stumbling 
and straggling, this army of five lunidred men strong 
finally arrived in the enemy's country, in the vicinity 
of Glens Falls, twenty leagues from the Mohawk 
village. Straggling along through a great depth of 
snow, and without guides, they made many mistakes 
in the selection of the' right route. Finally, some 
prisoners taken in a detached cabin directed them to 
the Dutch settlement of Schenectady, two miles away. 
A party of Mohawk warriors appeared about this 



First Expedition of De Tracy 47 

time, and skilfully drew a party of sixty of the re- 
nowned regiment into an ambush, killing eleven and 
wounding many more before the French captain was 
able to extricate his troops from the snare and make 
a precipitate retreat to the cover of the regiment. 

The victorious Mohawks soon after appeared be- 
fore the stockade of Schenectady with the heads of 
four Frenchmen and the information that an army 
on snow-shoes was approaching. Word of the in- 
vasion was sent to Albany, while some of the prin- 
cipal men of this little frontier village were sent 
to meet Governor de Courcelle and demand his 
intentions. 

The Governor replied that he came to seek out 
and destroy his enemies, the Mohawks, without in- 
tention of visiting their plantation, or to molest his 
JNIajesty's, King Charles's, subjects — in fact, until 
that moment, he thought the plantations were still un- 
der the obedience of Holland ; at the same time asking 
that his soldiers be furnished provisions for money, 
and that care might be given to the wounded, and that 
they might be sent to Albany. The French, having 
been refreshed and supplied with provisions, made a 
show of marching toward the Mohawks' castles, but 
when well out of sight of the villagers, " with faces 
about, and with great silence and diligence, returned 
towards Canada." When the Governor at last ar- 
rived at home with his troops, he reported that " the 
commandant of a hamlet inhabited by the Dutch of 
"New Holland had informed him that most of the 
Mohawks and Oneidas were away at war with other 



48 Early History of the Mohawks 

people called ' porcelain makers,' and that none but 
women and children were at their castles," but he 
beheved that the moral effect of the invasion would 
be great, as it would teach the Indians that their 
domains were not inaccessible to the French troops. 

However the truth seems to be that the two hun- 
dred Mohawks, who had so successfully ambuscaded 
and defeated the detachment of veterans who had 
been sent against them, must have been at that time 
nearly their entire force of warriors. 

It is also said that the Mohawks repaired to their 
castles, with the resolution to fight it out with the 
French. 

It is said that at the time of the Tracy-Courcelle 
raid, in February of 1666, Arent Van Corlear was 
very active in helping the French in obtaining pro- 
visions for De Tracy's frozen army, and also caring 
for their wounded soldiers. On account of this gen- 
erous act, the French Governor, in order to reward 
him for his kindness, invited him to visit New France. 
Subsequently Van Corlear accepted this invitation, 
but on his journey through Lake Champlain, his 
canoe was overturned in a storm and he was drowned. 
For many years after this sad accident the lake was 
called Lake Corlear by the people of the Province 
of New York. 

It is also said that there is a rock in this lake, 
on which the waves dash and fly up to a great height, 
when the wind blows hard. The Indians believed 
that an old Indian lived under this rock who had 




o 






o 



Chazy River 49 

the power of the winds, and therefore, as they passed 
it on their voyages, they always threw a pipe, a piece 
of flint, or some other small present, to propitiate the 
old guard and to induce him to provide a favor- 
able wind. The English were inclined to make sport 
of this superstition, but they were sure to be told 
of Van Corlear's fate. " Your countryman, Cor- 
lear," said the Indians, "as he passed by the rock jested 
at our fathers' making presents to this old Indian, 
and in derision, made an obscene motion of his body, 
but this affront cost him his life." 

Arent Van Corlear was dro^vned in Lake Cham- 
plain in 1667. 

The Chazy River flows from the beautiful lake of 
the same name, northerly and easterly, and falls into 
the northerly end of Lake Champlain, nearly oppo- 
sile the Isle La Motte of historic fame. The Chazy 
Lake sleeps at the foot of the mountain group of 
the lake belt of the wilderness, on the rugged eastern 
border of Clinton County. This beautiful stream 
and lake were named in memory of Sieur Chazy, a 
young French nobleman who was murdered on its 
banks, near its mouth, by a party of Mohawk Indians, 
in the year 1666. 

M. Chazy was a nephew of Marquis de Tracy, 
lieutenant-general of Canada, and was captain in 
the famous French regiment Carignan-Salieres. 
This regiment was the first body of regular troops 
sent to Canada by the French King. It was raised 
by Prince Carignan, in Savoy, during the year 1644. 



50 Early History of the Mohawks 

In 1664, it took a distinguished part with the alHed 
forces of France in the Austrian war with the Turks. 
The next year, it went with Tracy to Canada. 
Among its captains, besides Chazy, were Sorel, whose 
name was once borne by the Richeheu River, and 
Captain Chambly for whom a town on the same river 
was named. La Motte, and others. 

In 1665 Tracy landed in Quebec in great pomp 
and splendor. As this splendid aiTay of noblemen 
marched through the streets of the young city to the 
tap of the drum, led by the Carignan-Salieres, each 
soldier with slouch hat, nodding plume, bandolier, 
and shouldered firelock, they formed a glittering 
pageant, such as the New World had never seen 
before. 

In the same year Captain La Motte built Fort 
St. Anne upon the Isle La Motte, at the north end 
of Lake Champlain, opposite the mouth of the Chazy 
River. Young Chazy was stationed at this fort in 
the spring of 1666, and while hunting in the woods 
near the mouth of the river with a party of officers, 
was surprised and attacked by a roving band of Iro- 
quois. Chazy, with two or three others, was killed 
upon the spot, and the survivors captured and carried 
off prisoners to the Mohawk Valley. For months 
the war between the French and the Mohawks raged 
with unabated fury and the old wilderness was again 
drenched with blood. 

But in August following, a grand council of peace 
was held with the Iroquois at Quebec. During the 
council, Tracy invited some Mohawk chiefs to dine 



Second Expedition of De Tracy 51 

with him. At the table allusion was made to the 
murder of Chazy. A chief named Ag-ari-ata at once 
held out his arm and boastingly said : 

" This is the hand that split the head of that young 
man." 

" You shall never kill anybody else," exclaimed the 
horror-stricken Tracy, and ordered the insolent sav- 
age to be taken out and hanged upon the spot in 
sight of his comrades. 

Of course, peace was no longer thought of. Tracy 
made haste to march against the INIohawks with all 
of the forces at his command. During the month 
of September, Quebec on the St. Lawrence, and Fort 
St. Anne on the Isle of La Motte on Lake Cham- 
plain, were the scenes of busy preparation. The 
officers of the fort were engaged in the work with 
intense vigor. Here was an opportunity to go to 
the Mohawks' country and possibly release from cap- 
tivity their brother officers, who had been captured 
on the Chazy in the spring of this year; if not, to 
avenge their death. 

At length Tracy, and the Governor, Courcelle, set 
out from Quebec on the day of the " Exaltation of 
the Cross." They had with them a force of thirteen 
hundred men, and two pieces of cannon. It was the 
beginning of October, and the forests were beautiful 
with the olive and gold tints of autumn. They went 
up Lake Champlain and into Lake St. Sacrament 
(now Lake George). It was the first of the mili- 
tary pageants that have made the crystal gem of the 
wilderness historic. Amid the gorgeous scenery of 



52 Early History of the Mohawks 

the dying year, the three hundred hoats, bateaux, 
and canoes, trailed in long procession up the lake, 
through the narrows, that fairyland of tufted islets 
and quiet waters, and under the shadows of many 
mountain peaks, until, at length, they reached the 
head of the lake, where Fort William Henry was 
afterwards built. 

About a hundred miles of forests, swamps, rivers, 
and high hills still lay between them and the Mohawk 
castles. Leaving their canoes and bateaux at the 
head of the lake, they plunged boldly on foot into 
the southern wilderness that lay before them, follow- 
ing the old Indian trail, trodden so often by weary 
feet, and by the war parties of the savages, which 
led across the Hudson at the main bend above Glens 
Falls, and passed across the old Indian hunting 
ground, Kay-a-de-ros-se-ros, through what are now 
the towns of JNIilton, Greenfield, and Galway, in 
Saratoga County, to the lower castle on the JNIohawk 
River. It was more than forty miles of forest, but 
the path was narrow, full of gullies and pitfalls, 
crossed by streams, and in one place interrupted by 
a lake, probably Ballston Lake, w^hich they crossed 
on rafts. In all, there were six hundred Canadians, 
six hundred regulars of the Carignan-Salieres regi- 
ment, and a hundred Indians from the mission, who 
ranged the woods in front, flank, and rear, like hounds 
on the scent. On they went through the tangled 
wood, officers as well as men carrying heavy loads 
on their backs ; these packs, however, caused less diffi- 
culty than the two small cannon which were taken 



Second Expedition of De Tracy 53 

with them to the very last village of the Mohawks, 
in order the more easily to reduce the fortifications 
of the enemj''. 

Just think of it. Here was an expedition of thir- 
teen hundred soldiers, among them the most renowned 
regiment of France, heroes of a hundred battles, with 
all of the pomp and glitter of that age, and two 
cannon, to do battle with a foe armed with bows and 
arrows, and a few muskets, living in three poor vil- 
lages, protected by rude wooden palisades, who could 
not at that time muster over four hundred warriors. 
Actually, the worst foes they had to overcome were 
not the few barbarians surrounded by a log fence but 
the obstacles nature had placed in their path, — the 
tangled forests, rivers, and lakes, the war of the ele- 
ments, and hunger. One can imagine the terror that 
the prowess of the terrible Mohawks had spread 
through New France, when we reflect on the 
eff'orts made, and difliculties overcome, to effect their 
destruction. 

General Tracy, old, heavy, and infirm, was with 
the party, also Governor Courcelle. Tracy was 
seized with the gout and had to be assisted on the 
march. At a rapid stream a Swiss soldier tried to 
carry him across, but midway his strength gave out, 
and he was barely able to deposit his ponderous load 
on a rock. A Huron came to his aid and bore Tracy 
safely to the further bank. Courcelle was attacked 
with cramps, and had to be carried for a time like his 
commander. Provisions gave out, and the troops 
grew faint with hunger. At this juncture they 



54 Early History of the Mohawks 

passed through a wood of chestnut trees, full of those 
edihle nuts, which stayed for a time the hunger of 
the famished troops. 

Notwithstanding the care taken to conduct this 
march with little noise, the Mohawks discovered the 
approach of this army, while it was yet on Lake 
Champlain, whence runners were sent out by 
the Indians to give warning of its approach. Con- 
sequently, the alarm having been given, the troops 
found the villages abandoned, while the Indians could 
be seen on the hill-tops, shouting and firing guns 
at random. The troops, halting at each of the vil- 
lages, which were found empty of men but full of corn 
and provisions, only long enough to take the needed 
refreshment, passed on to the second and third villages, 
to find them also deserted. They were hopeful, how- 
ever, of meeting stout resistance from the gathering 
clans at the last one, which they prepared to attack in 
regular form with cannon in position to batter down 
their frail palisades. At this village the Mohawks, 
by the great firing they were making from the pre- 
cipitous hills and by the fortifications they had con- 
structed, showed their determination to make a 
vigorous defence. But scarcely had the advance 
guard approached when they again took flight into 
the woods, whither the night prevented the soldiers 
from pursuing them. Lord Tracy took possession of 
the fort and all the neighboring lands and other forts, 
in the name of the king, and after erecting the cross, 
saying mass, and chanting the Te Deum, proceeded 



Destruction of Mohawk Castles 55 

to burn the pahsades and cabins, consuming the en- 
tire supply of Indian corn, beans, and other .produce, 
turned back to the other villages and created the same 
havoc there, as well as the outlying fields, not having 
a doubt that those who had escaped destruction by 
their firearms would perish by starvation during the 
coming winter. The journey homeward of the French 
troops was more fatiguing than their outward tramp, 
on account of swollen rivers and storms on Lake 
Champlain. 

Teonnonteguen, the last castle attacked, is sup- 
posed to have been situated on a plateau south of 
Sprakers, on the Mohawk River, just west of the 
Nose. Here a large quantity of stone implements 
and stone and metal hatchets have been found by 
S. L. Frej^ the late A. G. Richmond, and others. 
The first and second castles were probably in the 
vicinity of Fort Hunter, all on the south side of the 
Mohawk River. 



CHAPTER V 

LEGEND OF THER^SE 

Part I 

IN the month of May, 1666, Captain Chazy of 
the Carignan regiment of French troops was 
located temporarily at Fort St. Anne, at the mouth 
of Lake Champlain. In order to while away the 
time. Captain Chazy, Sieur de Travesy, and other 
officers, and a companion of Chazy by the name of 
Armand de Loreles, went up a river near the fort 
on a hunting expedition. Unfortunately, they were 
surprised by a party of Mohawks, Chazy and De 
Travesy were killed, and Armand taken prisoner. 

Fearing that an alarm would be given at the fort, 
the Mohawks plunged into the wooded mountainous 
wilderness to the west, with their solitary prisoner, 
after stripping the slain of their gorgeous uniforms, 
and taking their scalps. Armand is described as a 
young man of twenty-four years of age, of fine per- 
sonal appearance, and of singularly white skin and 
blond hair, a marked contrast to the black locks and 
bronzed complexion of his dusky captors. 

Their route of retreat led them through a ravine, 

56 



Legend of Therese 5 7 

which gradually ascended until it reached the peak 
of a range of mountains that separated them from 
their canoes, which were concealed in one of the many 
beautiful lakes on the opposite side of the divide. 
When the party was nearing the top of the peak, a 
thunder-storm, which had been gathering in the west, 
burst suddenly upon them and made the Mohawks 
scurry for shelter. Turning sharply to the north, 
the guide of the party suddenly disappeared around 
a corner of a cliff. 

As he was closely followed, it was discovered that 
he had entered a narrow opening in the almost per- 
pendicular face of the peak, which towered above 
three hundred feet or more. Following in his foot- 
steps they entered a dimly lighted cavern, which, as 
the eye became accustomed to the gloom, proved to 
be of generous proportions. With a few dry fagots 
hastily gathered and the help of flint and steel, a 
fire was soon blazing, while the storm without raged 
furiously, and the thunder seemed to rebound from 
cliff to cliff, and roll down from crag to crag. 

With blazing torch the Indians explored the gloom, 
and soon, about three hundred feet away and down 
a sharp incline, the torch flickered and disappeared. 
Two other men with torches warily explored the 
cavern, in the direction in which the light had dis- 
appeared, meeting the former party hurriedly return- 
ing in fear and amazement. The discovery of this 
cavern proved to be accidental, as none of the 
INIohawks knew of its existence. 

The young Frenchman, bound and shivering with 



58 Legend of Therese 

nervous fear, to whom the day had been one of dire- 
ful experience, and the death and mutilation of his 
dear friend Chazy so horrible, lay by the fire, dazed 
and gloomy with forebodings of his own fate at the 
hands of the JNIohawks, who he had been led to 
believe were monsters in human form, delighting in 
the torture of helpless prisoners and in cannibalistic 
feasts. 

Although not allowed to partake of the scanty food 
with which the Mohawks were provided, he asked for 
and obtained water to drink, and soon sank to slumber 
among his tired captors. At the first faint streak 
of dawn in this high altitude, the party was astir, 
and before the rising of the sun had reached the 
canoes on a lake at the foot of the mountain, 
where refreshing and abundant food was given to 
the prisoner and his bonds loosed. 

Of an exceedingly buoyant and cheerful disposi- 
tion, Loreles was inclined to throw off the depression 
of gloom and fear with which his mind had been 
filled the previous day, and make the best of the 
situation that confronted him. He therefore asked, 
by signs, to be allowed to take a plunge in the lake. 
His request was received in silence, but in a short 
time he noticed three canoes, with two young Mo- 
hawks in each, paddle out into the lake, and take 
position that would prevent escape on the lake by 
swimming. Armand was then told that he could take 
the desired bath. 

Stripping off his garments he was soon surrounded 
by the whole band, who gazed with admiration at 



Legend of Theresa 59 

the vision of pure white muscularity before them. 
Some touched his flesh gently; others grasped his 
arms and ran their fingers through his yellow hair; 
all expressed surprise at the radiant white image 
before them. Armand submitted with good-nature, 
laughing heartily at their e\ddent admiration. 

Turning suddenly he plunged into the lake out of 
sight, to come up near one of the canoes, whose occu- 
pants he spattered, laughing heartily, his face beam- 
ing with good-nature and joyousness. The young 
Indians entering into the spirit of the fun spattered 
Armand with their paddles, who, sinking under the 
surface of the water, and coming up on the other 
side of the canoe, quietly grasped the gunwale, and, 
putting his weight upon it, overturned the canoe, 
throwing the young JNIohawks into the water amid 
the laughter of the party on the shore, while Ar- 
mand, quickly diving, came to the surface fifty feet 
away. 

Although the Indians on the war-path may be 
brutal and inhuman, at home, in the seclusion of 
their isolated villages, they are full of sport and 
practical jokes. Father Lalemant tells of his trials 
in learning the Huron language. Asking some 
young Hurons for a phrase or word of condolence 
for the sick, they gave him an obscene sentence, and 
followed him to hear him use it in the most incon- 
gruous situations. 

Armand, with his sport-loving proclivities, builded 
better than he knew, for he soon became a great 
favorite with the warriors, who admired him for his 



6o Leeend of Ther^se 



t> 



good-humor, and were proud of him for his won- 
derful white skin, so different from the color of their 
own dusky hodies. Looking upon him as a prize to 
be cared for, he was given liberties which were rarely 
accorded prisoners. He soon recovered from his de- 
spondency, and began to look forward without fear 
to his possible life with the aborigines. 

The young bucks in the party tried to frighten 
him M'ith stories of the gauntlet, and the horrors of 
the torture awaiting him at the end of their journey, 
but he laughed at them and bore the burden of the 
march with such good-humored equanimity that he 
made friends of them all. 

We will not follow them over the wilderness trails, 
but will meet them at the Mohawk River, where they 
w^ere to follow the river trail to the first village, called 
Tionondaroga (Fort Hunter). Word had been sent 
ahead that they were returning with scalps and a 
French prisoner, and preparations had already been 
made for the usual gruesome w^elcome given on the 
return of a successful war party; but the warriors, 
although reticent, did not purpose that this favorite 
prisoner should suffer any torture or indignities, 
although Armand was to be displayed in the usual 
manner. 

About a half-mile from the village the returning 
w^arriors were met by the whole population of the 
lower castle, men, women, bo3''S, and girls, arranged 
in two lines, armed with switches and clubs to inflict 
blows on the prisoner. 

Armand had been stripped of all his clothing, but 



Legend of Therese 6i 

was concealed from the crowd by being surrounded 
by the warriors in close order. 

When they arrived at the beginning of the line 
orders were given that no blows should be struck. 
At a given signal the chief of the war party, with 
scalps hanging from his belt, strode forward be- 
tween the lines, Armand following about twenty 
feet away as naked as Adam. 

His anxiety in regard to his reception being some- 
what allaj^ed, he regained his usual sang-froid, and 
with brilliant cheeks and smiling lips passed in re- 
view of all of the inhabitants of the village, who in 
amazement gazed upon this radiant white stranger, 
giving him the admiration due to a young god. 

Although nude, he did not appear as singular as 
one would suppose, as his companions, the dusky 
warriors, were but slightly clad, and many of the on- 
lookers, clad as they were, would not have been 
presentable in a European assemblage. However, 
the novelty of the situation was very embarrassing 
to the young Frenchman, and tinged his cheeks with 
a scarlet hue. 

On the outskirts of the village, outside of the pali- 
sades, was a group of half -clad maidens who gazed 
at the young man with unrestrained admiration, some 
of them never having seen a European clad or un- 
clad. One of the group was a young girl, mature 
of form and with evidence of white blood on her 
beautiful face, who waved her hand at him as he 
was passing near, and in a well-modulated voice 
greeted him in pure French with " Bon soir, JNIon- 



62 Legend of Therese 

sieur." Turning toward the speaker, he replied with 
" Bon soir, mon amie," and gazed into eyes of black- 
ness, that conveyed to him sympathy and admiration. 
As his blue eyes looked into hers, the color deepened 
on her cheeks, her hand clutched her throat, and her 
eyes followed his as he, fascinated, turned his head 
in passing and with a smile blew her a kiss. 

Amazed at the beauty of the young maiden, who 
seemed almost white, and whose dress and demeanor 
seemed to place her in a different class from her 
dusky companions, he stumbled along with his dusky 
cajDtors, wondering if he w^ould ever see her again. 
As the party, whose objective point was the third 
castle, twenty miles away, halted by a spring for rest 
and refreshment, he begged his captors to clothe him 
with moccasins, and breech-cloth, and mantle for his 
shoulders. These things were furnished on the 
march, but he was obliged to discard them at the 
second and third villages, where they were received 
in like manner as at the lower castle. 

It may seem strange that a savage maiden who 
had never seen a white man should be found among 
the Indians of the Mohawk, but an explanation which 
is a matter of history will make this statement appear 
reasonable. In 1639, an embryo of a seminary or 
convent Mas established at INIontreal by the Ursulines, 
the pupils of which were called seminarists. Almost 
at once, six Indian girls (Montagues and Hurons) 
were admitted for instruction, among whom was a 
half-breed girl twelve years of age, named by the 
nuns Therese. After about three years of instruc- 




ft 

o 

W 






Legend of Therese 63 

tion among the nuns, she attempted to return to her 
home in the Huron country, but was captured with 
Father Isaac Jogues's party, in 1642, and taken to 
the JNIohawks' country. 

Almost immediately, although only sixteen years 
old, she was taken in marriage by a Mohawk chief. 
Ten years after she was seen by some Huron prison- 
ers, but refused to leave her family and return to 
Xew France. 

The young girl who spoke to Armand beyond the 
palisades of the first castle was the daughter of 
Therese, who had instructed her in the knowledge 
she had obtained at the primitive seminary on Mont- 
real Island, and had transmitted to her the inherit- 
ance of European blood and comeliness from her 
French grandfather, as well as her Christian faith 
and name, IVIarie. 

Marie was now sixteen years old, and although 
somewhat secluded and inaccessible to the young In- 
dians, still, she had been taught by her mother that 
the time was not far distant when some of the young 
chieftains would seek to persuade her to preside over 
his wigwam. Having but lately taken up her abode 
at Tionondaroga, jNIarie had made very few^ close 
friends among the young Indians, holding herself 
aloof from their sports and pastimes, and always re- 
tiring from scenes of torture and death, so often 
inflicted on helpless prisoners. 

So, as the prisoner and his escort faded from her 
sight up the valley, she, knowing how prisoners were 
usualty treated, closed her eyes while her heart beat 



64 Legend of Ther^se 

with spasmodic pain, at the thought that the beautiful 
white stranger was being led to torture and mutilation. 

She almost cried out at the vision in her mind of 
fire scorching his limbs, of his fingers chewed by old 
hags, young boys and girls, of the dusky dancers 
around the stake, and of the tearing of the yellow 
scalp from his head. 

Oh ! no, it must not be, mother must save him for — 
for her! Stealing away from her companions, she 
slowly and listlessly approached her home in the 
forest, outside the palisade. 

" Maman," she said to her mother in an indifferent 
tone, " will the white stranger be killed at Teonnon- 
teguen, or brought back here ? " 

" He will come back here, he will not be killed, 
ma fille; I will save him, he will not be harmed." 

It is hardly necessary for me to follow Armand 
in his journey to the upper castle of the Mohawks. 
Therese was right, he was brought back to Tiononda- 
roga. Her husband was a sachem of the Iroquois, 
a man about forty-five years old, a noted warrior 
and councillor, and the man who captured Armand 
and saved him from the fate that befell Chazy and 
Travesy. 

He loved his half-breed wife with her uncanny 
wisdom and strange speech, who still clung to the 
religion taught her by Marie of the Incarnation, at 
the rude seminary at Montreal. 

But she did not parade her belief, but lived the 
life of a Christian within herself, and, more than she 
realized, swayed the councils of the Mohawks through 



Legend of Therese 65 

her husband. At this period she was thirty-five years 
old, tall and beautifully proportioned, with pleasing 
features somewhat bronzed by exposure, and always 
dressed with barbaric splendor, as became the wife 
of a sachem of the " terrible JMohawks." 

Marie was now her only child, as her only son, 
whom she had named Pierre, had been killed the 
summer before in a raid on the inhabitants of the 
St. Lawrence Valley. 

It transpired that Therese had asked that the 
" white stranger " be given to her, to be *' raised 
up " to take the place of Pierre in her household, as 
her new son. This gave her the power of life or 
death over the young Frenchman, to do with him as 
seemed good unto her. If she should choose to 
torture or kill him, it was her privilege, but no one 
else had any power to inflict punishment on him. 

Thus it came to pass that Armand was adopted 
into the home of the young maiden he admired, re- 
ceiving the name of her brother Pierre. Frequently, 
in cases of this kind, the situation or status of a new 
son meant slavery, or constant toil as a drudge. 
Nominally, Armand was a slave to Therese, but her 
motive in obtaining or exercising this privilege was 
the passionate love or desire that had suddenly filled 
her very being. 

It may be well, at this time, to tell all that is known 
of the early life of this historic character. She was 
the offspring of a Huron maiden and a French gen- 
tleman, an " emigre," named Jean Loreles, who came 
to New France with the elder La Tour, as a friend 



66 Legend of Ther^se 

of the young La Tour. Following in the footsteps 
of his predecessors, he took to his home the mother of 
Therese as his Indian wife. At that early period, 
many Frenchmen came to Canada in a spirit of ad- 
venture, and, tiring of the hardships of this cold 
region, returned home after a brief sojourn. 

Loreles, however, was called home by a message 
from his family, which obliged him to leave New 
France hurriedly, leaving his young wife with re- 
gret. This was about six months subsequent to 
the birth of his child. The mother and child soon 
returned to her home on Lake Simcoe, and for twelve 
years the daughter lived the life of an Indian girl, 
or until the Ursuline nuns rescued her, and she be- 
came a seminarist, named by the nuns Therese, from 
the saint of that name. 

Records of pupils were early begun by the nuns, 
and a small piece of parchment, enclosed in a tube 
of horn, hung suspended from her rosary, which 
never left her neck. On it were the name of her 
father, Jean Loreles, the date of her birth, and a 
brief account of her mother's life in Quebec, the date 
of her entry, and the date of discharge from the semi- 
nary; also a brief description of her father, and 
the statement that his home was in Paris and that 
he was of good family. 

At the request of Therese, the clothing of the 
" white captive," as Armand was called, was re- 
stored to him, together with his gun, hunting knife, 
and the ammunition he had on his person when 
captured. As a member of the sachem's family, he 



Legend of Therese 67 

was greeted kindly by Therese and the chief, and 
with dancing eyes and hectic flush by JVIarie, his 
genial manner making him a favorite among the 
inhabitants. 

He was, however, somewhat annoyed by their 
curiosit}'^ and spirit of investigation, his white skin 
and yellow hair being a source of wonder to the youth 
of the village, and he soon refrained from wandering 
far from the domicile of the sachem. This threw 
him in almost constant companionship with Therese 
and her daughter, Marie, both of whom he could 
converse with in the French language. 

He was still known in the family of the sachem 
as the " white stranger." Therese, having re- 
frained from questioning him about his antecedents, 
did not know him, or speak of him, by any other 
name. Although ten years his senior, she was at- 
tracted to him, and he received attentions from her 
that would have alarmed him, if his thoughts had not 
so constantly turned to INIarie, with her mature youth 
and beaut3^ 

Grateful for the care and kind attention that he 
received from members of the sachem's household, and 
somewhat flattered by the warm caresses from this 
beautiful savage matron when alone with her, and 
also grateful to one who had saved his life, he in 
his innate good-nature in no wise repulsed these 
attentions, although not in a mood to reciprocate 
them. As for Therese, her passion for the young 
Frenchman became intense, and the fact that he was 
of the same nationality as that of her father led her 



68 Letrend of Ther^se 



&' 



on ; at times tender and loving, and again morose and 
repellent in manner, when she found that Armand 
did not respond to her caresses. 

" Why should I not love him? He belongs to me. 
Is not his life in my hands, is he not my slave, to 
do with as I list?" And then she thought of her 
early instruction by the nuns, and as the command, 
" Thou shalt not covet," would sound to her out of 
the past, she would avoid the presence of her captive 
for a little while. 

Armand had been an inmate of the house of Therese 
for nearly two months, a portion of the time having 
been employed in hunting and fishing excursions; 
when at home, however, he frequently saw Marie 
in the presence of her mother, and again in strolls 
in the near-by forests. They had learned to love 
each other, but the youth and timidity of Marie had 
prevented Armand from actual love-making, although 
they had become jolly comrades, happy in each other's 
society. 

Armand, realizing that he owed his life to Therese, 
refrained, out of loyalty to his hostess, from lover-like 
attentions to Marie. So Tlierese, engrossed in her 
OM^n passion, failed to comprehend the danger of two 
young and lovable people allowed almost constant 
companionship and free to wander where'er they 
listed without restraint. 

Armand, the " white captive," had arrived in the 
INIohawks' country about the beginning of June, and, 
at the period of which we are now writing, had been 
a captive about four months. One beautiful moon- 



Legend of Ther^se 69 

light night Armand and Marie were sitting outside 
of the wigwam, alone. He had told the young 
maiden of his love, and had taken her in his arms, 
and had taught her the full meaning of the kiss of 
love. 

He had told her his name, of his life in old France, 
and of his mission to Canada, which had been inter- 
rupted by his capture, when they were alarmed by 
a slight noise in the cabin. After listening, the sound 
not being repeated, he continued his story. Had he 
known how near death he had been at that moment, 
the story would have had no ending. 

Therese, having returned quietly to the cabin, had 
been a witness of the warm embraces of the young 
couple. For a moment her Indian blood and Indian 
passion were in the ascendency, and she stepped for- 
ward in fury, armed with a knife, w^hen her ears 
caught the name of Armand Loreles. With the 
silence of a statue of bronze, she bent forward, drink- 
ing in every word of the strange tale. 

" Yes," said the young man, " my name is Armand, 
named for my father, Armand Loreles. He had but 
one brother, named Jean Loreles." 

"Jean Loreles!" Therese uttered the name in a 
low whisper of amazement. 

" During the last years of the administration of 
Governor Champlain," continued Armand, " my 
uncle, Jean Loreles, came to Canada in a spirit of 
adventure. Shortly after his arrival my uncle met 
a beautiful Huron girl, with whom he fell ardently 
in love." 



70 Legend of Therese 

"His uncle!" murmured Therese. 

" The young Huron maiden, naturally attracted 
to the gallant young Frenchman, reciprocated the 
love he professed and became his wife." 

"His wife!" sighed the stricken woman in the 
gloom. 

" They lived happily together for a year and a 
half, during which time a daughter was born, but 
their happy life was broken by a message from 
France, requesting his instant return if he desired to 
see his father alive. The ship which brought the 
message was to sail at once, and with a tearful good- 
bye, and a promise to return soon to his wife and 
babe, who at that period was about six months old, 
Jean sailed away. 

" Having arrived in France, he found his father 
a paralytic, needing almost constant care. His father 
having a large estate, Jean found his time fully em- 
ploj^ed between the duties that devolved upon him, 
and care of the helpless invalid. Although he tried 
to communicate with his little family in Canada, his 
efforts were futile, on account of the removal of the 
mother and child into the wilderness of the Hurons' 
country, in the vicinity of Georgian Bay. After 
years of helplessness, the father died, leaving his 
estate to his two sons, Armand and Jean. 

" As soon as Jean could arrange the business of 
the estate, he sailed for Canada, determined to find 
his daughter and her mother, if yet alive, but alas! 
the ship in which he had taken passage foundered in 
mid-ocean and all on board were lost. When it was 



Legend of Therese 71 

established beyond a doubt that my uncle Jean was 
lost at sea, I opened the will of my uncle, and found 
that I was heir to his whole estate, except a legacy 
to his daughter in New France of 10,000 francs, and 
it bade me go to France, and search for his child, 
whom he had not heard from since he left the wharf 
at Quebec so many years ago. 

" I had learned from the Jesuit father at Mont- 
real," continued Armand, " of a half-breed girl who 
had been captured by the Mohawks in 1642, who was 
said to have married a Mohawk chief, on the Mohawk 
River, and refused to return to her own country. At 
the seminary at Montreal the girl had been named 
Therese. 

" It was this woman," said Armand, " I was seek- 
ing when I was captured." 

With a tread as noiseless as that of a panther the 
half-breed stole away, and entering the forest in 
the outskirts she drew her stroud over her head and 
lay at full length on her face on the sod, her brain 
confused with the tale she had heard. 

'"Mon Dieu!'' she murmured. "My cousin; and 
Marie loves him too. Holy ]M other! and I would have 
sinned," and the poor woman writhed among the pine 
needles of the forest at the memory of her humilia- 
tion. " Ah, and I would have killed him. Oh, Jesu, 
merci ! " 

Slowly she returned to her cabin and there, on her 
sleepless couch, she wrestled with the most momen- 
tous question she had ever confronted. In those 
long hours Indian blood and the blood of the white 



72 Legend of Therese 

man fought for supremac}^ But the training of 
the seminarist conquered, and her decision was made. 
At the usual hour she arose and performed her simple 
household duties, and after the meal was eaten, and 
Marie sent into the castle on an errand, she led Ar- 
mand into the forest, where, seating herself on a 
fallen tree trunk, she turned to him, and said 
in a low, even voice: "You love Marie. Would 
you make her your wife by the laws of the 
church?" 

Armand gazed at her with pale face and staring 
eyes. At last, awed by the strange and imperturb- 
able manner of his host, he replied, " I love your 
daughter, I told her so last night, and she loves me; 
the knowledge alone has been so blissful that we have 
not thought of the future. Will you give her to me? " 

" Armand, I am Therese Loreles ! " 

"You are Therese Loreles?" said Armand too 
astonished to think clearly. 

" I saw Marie with you last night and I heard your 
story; your Uncle Jean was my father." 

" Your father? " he exclaimed, and while his eyes 
saw nothing and with his brain sodden, he continued 
in a whisper, " And Marie is my cousin! " 

Part II 

While Armand was taking life in a happj^'-go-lucky 
way on the banks of the Mohawk, matters of direful 
import to these villages were transpiring on the banks 
of the St. Lawrence River. 



Leo^end of Therese 73 



The scheme of De Tracy for the destruction of 
the terrible Mohawks, with the assistance of the 
lately imported Carignan-Salieres regiment of 
French regular troops, which has been related in a 
previous chapter, was precipitated by the killing of 
Chazy and De Travesy, and the capture of Sieur 
Armand Loreles, a cousin of Governor de Tracy. 
The troops detailed for the purpose were discovered 
in all of their glittering array by a party of Mohawks 
who were hunting on Lake St. Sacrament, in the 
vicinity of its outlet. 

Without delay one of the party was despatched in 
his birchen canoe by the way of Lake St. Sacrament 
and the Hudson, to alarm the Mohawks, while the 
remainder of the party warily watched the French 
troops in order to ascertain their destination; other 
runners were to be sent ahead from time to time, as 
it became evident which course or trail the invaders 
would adopt. 

It was early in October, and all of the beautiful 
tints of autumn were adding splendor to the environ- 
ment of the glittering warlike array of the heroes 
of many battles, as they sailed up the lake on what 
they deemed a holiday excursion. 

Duly warned, however, the INIohawks were cog- 
nizant of every move of the French troops and had 
laid their plans accordingly, when the Frenchmen 
reached the river about ten miles from the first 
castle. 

Indian spies had been sent out by De Tracy, — but 
they never returned. 



74 Legend of Ther^se 

Pakt III 

The Mohawk runner had arrived on the evening 
of the day after the interview between Therese and 
Armand, as related above. Breathless and exhausted 
for w^ant of sleep, he fell to the earthen floor of the 
sachem's cabin, and barely told his tale before he sank 
in slumber. 

Fairly stunned wdth the direful news Therese sat 
crouched before the fire, trying in vain to solve the 
problem that confronted her. She realized that two 
weeks or more w^ould elapse before the army would 
reach their village, but she also perceived the danger 
to Armand, when her people became aware that his 
countrymen were approaching and that the destruc- 
tion of their peaceful villages w^as imminent. In- 
stant torture or death would be demanded by the 
chiefs in their rage and terror. Could she hide him 
and help him to escape to his friends, only a few 
days' journey away? If she should send him away, 
what of JNIarie, when she became aware that her lover 
had gone, probably never to return? 

Armand would marry her, but that w^ould not save 
his life, if he remained; should she send him to the 
south, to Okwaga? but he would not go without 
]\Iarie, and what would his anger be when he found 
that she had kept the news of the approach of the 
army from him, and that his friends had returned to 
Canada without him. If she should send him away 
to the French army, could he stay their march? 
Xo. 



Legend of Therese 75 

She thought of the danger to her own hfe, and the 
fact that she had learned to love the young man ; but 
now she knew she would have to give him up to 
Marie. She recalled that he was of her own flesh 
and blood, and looked back with horror at the pas- 
sion which had pervaded her, and almost made her 
a murderess. Almost frantic at the dilemma in which 
she was placed, she realized that the news of the ad- 
vance of the French troops must be kept from her 
people for another day and, if possible, two days, 
and that she must tell Armand the truth at once. 

But could she keep the news from being known? 
She aroused herself and approached the tired run- 
ner, to find him tossing restlessly in his fitful slumber, 
muttering unintelligible sounds. Touching his flesh, 
she found that he was in a high fever and also that 
he was unconscious and would be unable to leave 
the cabin until the fever abated. Without asking 
for assistance, she placed him on a rude couch and 
prepared to administer the proper remedies, mutter- 
ing to herself, " Holy Mother, I thank thee! " 

Weary with her vigil, she at last fell asleep, waking 
a few hours later at the call of ]Marie. Rest had 
cleared her brain, and her French blood asserting 
itself, she quickly made her plans. Finding her pa- 
tient still restless, she prepared and administered a 
sleeping potion which would not only give him rest, 
but would keep him from delivering his message to 
the head men of the castle. 

Soon after the morning meal, having left JNIarie to 
care for the patient, she approached the palisade, over 



76 Legend of Ther^se 

the path she knew Armand would come from a visit 
to the castle, whither he had gone the night before. 
ISIeeting him she turned to a path leading towards 
the outskirts of the forest, he following docilely. 

"Armand, do you love Marie?" she asked. 

" Yes, I love her purely and truly," he replied. 

" You did not answer the question I asked you 
last night. Would you marry her according to the 
laws of the church?" she asked, gazing straight into 
his unflinching blue eyes. 

" I have known her for nearly four months, and I 
believe I loved her from the first time I saw her," 
replied Armand. 

" ^Vould you forsake your people for her sake? " 

"Yes! but would that be necessary?" he asked 
hastily. " Why cannot she go to my own people 
and receive the benefits of the wealth which I can 
bestow on her? Therese, do you not remember the 
dear sisters who cared for you and taught you to 
love the church of your father? At Montreal wealth 
and comforts await you as well as your daughter! 
Does not your French blood call you sometimes to 
forsake your forest life? Would not the sachem 
follow his child?" 

" Ah, you do not know the sachem : he respects 
me, he is proud of me as through my knowledge he 
is a great power in the council of the Iroquois. He 
loves his daughter, but he loves his people more. No, 
he would not forsake them for all of the charms 
of civilization, of which he knows but little, 
now." 



Legend of Ther^se 77 

" Then what do you propose ? Do you wish me to 
marry Marie? If so, I am ready, but where is there 
a priest who could marry us?" 

" Father La Moyne is among the Oneidas, but that 
is miles away," she replied musingly, and for some 
minutes they sat in silence. With a sudden move- 
ment, she arose and strode back and forth along the 
woodland path, with hands clinched and her dusky 
countenance aglow with passionate emotion; silentty, 
but actively alert, she gazed with unseeing eyes, 
straight before her. 

At last she paused in front of the young man 
and exclaimed, " Pierre- Armand, look at me — what 
do yoii see, what am I ? " 

With pale cheeks and tender eyes he gazed at her 
for a moment. She stood before him with all the 
barbaric splendor of an Indian queen: tall and mag- 
nificent in form, with shoulders and bust of exquisite 
contour, from which hung the soft scant folds of a 
deer-skin garment, beaded and fringed, reaching 
nearly to her ankles, and with moccasins of the same 
material, richly ornamented. Around her neck and 
supported by her rounded bosom hung a priceless 
necklace of various colored stones and wampum. She 
had black glossy hair, and eyes that looked sternly 
and unrelenting into his. 

" What am I? " she repeated in a fierce voice. 

He looked at the dusky skin of her arms, which 
were bare to the shoulder, and at her face of cop- 
per hue, bronzed and darkened by her life in the 
open, and with a smile on his lips and a look of 



78 Legend of Ther^se 

admiration in his eyes, he replied, "You are the 
grandest and most beautiful woman I ever saw." 

" But what am I, a Huron or a French woman? 
Look!" she said, as she impetuously raised her dress 
slightly, disclosing white skin above her dusky ankles. 
Dropping her dress quickly, she tore her necklace 
of wampum from her shoulders, and with a quick 
movement, bared a bosom with skin as white as his 
own, below the dusky outline of her neck. 

Lying upon her white breast was a rosary from 
which depended a cross of solid gold, the uj)per arm 
of which was encircled by a ring bearing the crest 
of Loreles, set with a diamond of large size. 

" Am I a Huron or am I my father's daughter? " 
and as she gazed at the white flesh, her eyes soft- 
ened, and a tender smile wreathed her full lips. 

Readjusting her robe, she said: " Armand, the first 
time I saw you, my Huron blood was in the ascend- 
ency, and I coveted you with a passion that was not 
holy. I did not know that you had seen INIarie, and 
in the moonlight that night when you told her your 
story, my Indian blood made me a murderess in 
thought. You told her your name, and it stayed my 
hand; you told the story of my father, and it 
saved your life. Go now to Marie and be kind to 
her." 

The village of Tionondaroga was situated at the 
junction of the Mohawk and Schoharie rivers. Ex- 
tending for miles east and west along the INIohawk, 
and of width varying from a quarter to a half mile, lay 
fertile flats, enriched by ages of decayed vegetation 



Legend of Therese 79 

and the overflow of the streams, and having mold of 
great depth and of uncommon fertility. 

Near the east bank of the Schoharie stood the first 
castle, so called on account of its precarious protec- 
tion by palisades of trunks of trees, set closely to- 
gether, about twelve feet high. 

Inside of the stockade were long houses, or com- 
munal dwellings, of varying lengths, but about twenty 
or twenty -five feet wide. Some of the long houses 
were from one hundred to one hundred and fifty 
feet long, others twenty, thirty, and sixty feet long, 
the largest sheltering from fifteen to twenty families. 

In 1660 the INIohawks were said to have been prob- 
ably at their greatest strength, as they could muster 
about three hundred warriors, at their three castles. 
The population of the castle called the " Eastern door 
of the long house " could not have been greater than 
three hundred men, women, and children. They were 
a sedentary people, although warlike in the extreme, 
and raised corn, beans, pumpkins, melons, tobacco, 
and edible roots, in quantities to supply the habitants 
with food for the winter season. 

In October, 1666, the flats along the Mohawk were 
yellow with ripening grain. A large proportion had 
been garnered and stored in their storehouses, which 
were generally nothing but a cache or hole in the 
ground, lined with bark. Peace and plenty pervaded 
this primitive village of the aborigines, however tur- 
bulent the breast of the sachem's wife, and that of 
the " white stranger." 

But the problem that perplexed Therese was not 



8o Legend of Ther^se 

to be solved by her, but by the sachem. He had 
been on a visit to the upper castle, and returning 
in his canoe, overtook another voyager, as he 
paddled to midstream, the Mohawk being at its 
flood from a violent rain-storm. The canoeman 
proved to be a black-gown from the Oneidas. As 
he drew nearer to the canoe, the sachem recognized 
Father La Moyne, who was on his way to Fort 
Orange. 

There w^as a strong feeling among the Mohawks 
against the Jesuits, but Therese had been kind to 
La JNIoyne, and the pleasure he derived in conversing 
with one who could speak his own language, made 
him an occasional visitor at the sachem's cabin. 
When they arrived off the landing in front of the 
lower Mohawk village, the father was loath to stop, 
as the current was strong and he was anxious to take 
advantage of it, his visit to Fort Orange being im- 
portant. The sachem, however, urged him to stop 
and meet the " white stranger," and La Moyne 
finally consented; the sachem promising to go with 
him in the morning as far as the Juchtanunda. 

Therese had been watching for the return of the 
sachem and had descried the canoes as they 
rounded the sharp bend then and now known as the 
** Cold Spring." It was with feelings of mingled 
joj^ and anxiety that she recognized Father La Mojme 
as the companion of the sachem. The sick runner 
was regaining consciousness, and she was glad that 
the sachem had returned, to relieve her of the secret 
of the coming of the French troops. Now that the 




r" c 



fe 



c 



Legend of Therese 8i 

Jesuit father was to be their guest, she accepted the 
incident as the work of the " Holy Mother," which 
seemed to bring .calm to her troubled soul and a 
solution to the question of the marriage of Ai'mand 
and Marie. 

Upon their arrival near the domicile, and after 
warm and hospitable greetings, she left the priest 
with the Frenchman ; La INIoyne's face beaming with 
joy at this chance encounter with a man so near the 
Governor, and consequently, the dignitaries of the 
church at Quebec and Montreal. 

As Therese drew near the cabin, she related to 
the sachem the coming of the runner, who reminds 
one of a Marathon runner, in succumbing to fatigue 
as he half breathed the tale he bore. The sachem 
listened stoically, and entering the cabin he heard 
the tale in full. Turning to Therese he said: " You 
were wise to keep this story secret until my return. 
Say nothing to La Moyne about the approach of 
the troops." And then she told him Armand's story, 
and of her discovery of the mutual love of Armand 
and Marie, and his willingness and desire to marry 
Marie, according to the laws of the Roman Church. 
After a silence of some minutes the sachem turned 
to Therese, and said: 

" Armand must know of the approach and purpose 
of the army of De Tracy. It will be a supreme test 
of his love for ma fille. And on his decision lies 
his fate." 

" Oh, sachem! what would be that fate, if he de- 
cides for his countrymen?" asked Therese, standing 



82 Leeend of Therese 



e? 



before him with startled eyes, and with clenched hands 
across her heaving bosom. 

" I know not, but it will be as the council decides," 
and turning with bowed head he strode into the for- 
est. Therese, signalling Armand to follow her, pur- 
sued the same path that her husband had taken, 
INIarie with the priest slowly following. 

As they caught up with the sachem, he said to 
Therese, " Tell him." 

" Armand," said the half-breed, " the sick runner 
brought the news that De Tracy is approaching with 
a large army, well equipped with guns, and cannon, 
for the destruction of my people and of their vil- 
lages. In ten days they will be before our feeble 
fortification. We shall be annihilated; we cannot 
withstand them; they are powerful. De Tracy is 
your kinsman, he has come to rescue you. Go to 
him and leave us to our fate." 

" And you, you and Marie, will you not return to 
your people ? " 

" The sachem is my husband and her father, we 
will stay with his people." 

INIarie and Therese had drawn close to the sachem. 

Armand had stood with arms folded and head bent 
while the above conference had taken place. Now 
he raised his eyes and, emotion swelling his breast, he 
stepped quickly to Marie's side, and with an arm 
around her waist, he exclaimed, " No ! nor will I go," 
and looking into Marie's eyes he pressed her to his 
side M'ith a strong embrace. " I will stay here and 
your people shall be my people." Turning impetu- 



Legend of Ther^se 83 



ously to the sachem, he said, " Strip me of my gar- 
ments, stain my body, blacken my hair, give me of 
your clothing and place arms in my hands, and I 
will stay with you and fight for my wife, Marie." 
Then turning to Therese, he said : " Call Father La 
Moyne, he shall marry us here and now." 

After the brief ceremony, Armand was all action, 
and in impetuous French he urged that scouts be 
sent out, to ascertain the number of the troops and 
the probable time of their arrival. He pointed out 
that it would be suicide to make any resistance. He 
urged that men be sent to the second castle, urging 
them not to think of resistance, but turn the attention 
of the whole population to the saving of their stores, 
by removing them into the forests. Some of the 
standing grain w^ould probably have to be left, but 
their household effects and stores of food could be 
removed. Their frail stockade and frailer buildings, 
if destroyed, could be replaced. A retreat to the 
hills would save their stores and their lives. If any 
resistance was to be made, it should be at the third 
castle, where he advised that the warriors should be 
assembled, but he insisted that all non-combatants 
should be hid. 

Work was begun at the lower castle at once, 
with vigor, that all grain that could be transported 
to the forest might be securely concealed before the 
scouts or van of the troops made their appearance 
at the deserted village. 

The story of the destruction of the villages of the 
Mohawks has been told on other pages {q. v.). 



84 Legend of Therese 

After the departure of the troops, who did not see 
Armand, the whole population turned their attention 
to the rebuilding of their villages, the inhabitants of 
the lower castle receiving assistance from the Dutch 
at Fort Orange, so that in a short time long-houses 
and cabins were constructed, the dwellings being 
erected in a new place in the vicinity of their con- 
cealed stores, so that by the beginning of winter they 
were comfortably housed. 

Although very few, if any, of the Mohawks lost 
their lives, still the display of the strength and energy 
of the French had a salutary effect on these fierce 
warriors ; a treaty of peace was enacted, and the Jesuit 
fathers were allowed to establish missions, and build 
chapels where, before the raid, they had been vigor- 
ously excluded. 

In time some converts were made and between 
thirty and forty of the people of the lower castle, 
among them the family of the sachem, were removed 
to the Mission of Caughnawaga on the St. Lrawrence. 
Thus at last, after about five years' residence among 
the Mohawks, Armand returned to civilization where 
he could use his great wealth for the benefit of Marie, 
and the family of Therese. 

Loreles's life with the Mohawks could not have 
been uninteresting, situated as he was, only thirty- 
five miles from Fort Orange, and one hundred and 
more miles from New Amsterdam. Being a man of 
wealth. New Amsterdam was more easy of access to 
him than Quebec, as the communication was by water 
and hence the journey thither one involving little 




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Legend of Ther^se 85 

hardship. Moreover his financial affairs could be 
more easily attended to at New Amsterdam. 

The first winter of his marriage to Marie was 
passed in the old Dutch town, and he spared no ex- 
pense in adorning his wife with garments from Paris 
and with jewels from Amsterdam, Holland. In fact 
the beautj^ of the Mohawk princess, and the gor- 
geousness of the attire of the wife of the wealthy- 
French gentleman, made her entry into the families 
of the rich and great easy, and the winter, and in 
fact all winters, were passed in a round of pleasure. 

So much for the legend of Therese. Perhaps I 
owe it to the reader to tell how much of it is fact and 
how much embellishment. 

Therese was an historic personage. She was a half- 
breed, her father being a French gentleman. She 
was educated by the Ursulines at the first rude semi- 
nary at Montreal, from which she was graduated ( ?) 
after three years' instruction. She w^as captured by 
the JNIohawks with Father Isaac Jogues's party in 
1642 and taken to the Mohawks' country, where she 
married a Mohawk chief. 

Chazy was killed on the river which now bears his 
name, and Loreles, a cousin of De Tracy, was cap- 
tured. The expedition of De Tracy and the destruc- 
tion of the Mohawk village, as well as the presence 
of Father La MojTie at Oneida, are also established 
facts. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE CAUGHNAWAGA OR PRAYING INDIANS POPULAR 

ERRORS CORRECTED THEIR EARLY SETTLEMENTS 

ON THE ST. LAWRENCE RIATER KRYN, THE GREAT 

MOHAWK CHIEF SUFFERINGS OF THE JESUIT 

PRIESTS WITHDRAWAL OF CONVERTS FROM SAV- 
AGE COMPANIONS 

WE frequently read articles about the Caughna- 
waga Indians, and attempts are made to 
explain who they are. In most cases the explana- 
tions are erroneous or misleading. A recent article 
informs the public that they were " formed from the 
Seven Nations." Another statement says: "They 
were the descendants of the Indians who were left 
in the Algonquin Confederacy after the Five Nations 
revolted and subdued the Confederacy." Both of 
these accounts are erroneous. 

In fact, there was no Algonquin Confederacy. The 
only confederacy of American Indians that is known 
to history is that of the Five Nations, or the con- 
federacy of the Iroquois. But even that was not a 
union of all the Iroquois tribes. The people known 
as the " Algonquin Indians " is not a union of tribes, 
but a nation that at the advent of the white man in 
the New World was scattered far and wide over 

86 



Caughnawagas 87 

North America. They were tribes with a common 
language, but with as many dialects as there were 
tribes. 

While there was an occasional combination of tribes 
for warlike purposes, none of these combinations 
could be dignified with the name of confederacy. 
The conflict that resulted in the peace of 1671 was 
not a war to prevent the Iroquois from withdrawing 
from the " Algonquin Confederacy," but a war of 
extermination, which had been raging for more than 
half a century, waged by the Iroquois (at that 
time composed of five nations) against their kindred, 
the Huron-Iroquois, the Neuters, the Eries, and the 
Tobacco Nation, all of whom spoke dialects of the 
Iroquois language. Into this war were also drawn 
the Montagues, Ottawas, Ojibwas, and Adirondacks 
of Canada, who spoke dialects of the language of 
the Algonquins. The Iroquois, or Five Nations, at 
this time had been established in the Mohawk Valley 
and westward for nearly a century, and in that time 
had subdued or destroyed all the surrounding tribes, 
so that peace reigned because there were no more 
enemies to conquer. 

At this period, the tribes in New York State and 
in the vicinity of the Great Lakes (the tribes marked 
with a star being enemies of the Five Nations) were 
as follows; 

Algonquian 

*Algonquin or Adirondacks 
Etchemins 



S8 Caiighnawagas 

*^Iontagnes 

Micmac 

Souriquois 
*Abenakis 
*Ottawas 

Shawnees 
*D el a wares 
*0 jib was 
*Mascoutins 

Kicapoo 

Illinois 

iROQUOfAN 

Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, 
— the Five Nations 

Tuscaroras in North Carolina 
*Eries 
*Neuters 
*Huron-Iroquois 

Cherokees 
*Andastes or Susquehannoeks 
*Tobacco Nation 

In order to make it clear how the appellation of 
Caughnawaga came into existence, it will be neces- 
sary to go back to the Jesuit missions of Canada in 
the early part of the seventeenth century, and to the 
advent in the Mohawk Valley, of Fathers Jogues and 
Bressani, who came via Lake Champlain and Lake 
George, in 1642 and in 1646 respectively. 

The efforts of the Jesuits to convert the savages 



Caughnawagas 89 

of New France to Catholicism did not meet with any; 
substantial success during the early years of the mis- 
sion, say from 1610 to 1635, owing to the nomadic 
life of the Indians whom they met in the vicinity of 
Quebec, Three Rivers, and at Port Royal (now 
Annapolis, Nova Scotia). Although they occasion- 
ally had some promising converts, during the seasons 
that different tribes visited the above places to ex- 
change furs for warlike implements, and brass 
kettles, blankets, etc., the Indians were sure to re- 
turn to their former beliefs when they again entered 
the forests. From the very beginning the Jesuits 
saw the necessity of locating these nomadic tribes in 
some permanent place and of teaching them to fear 
the devil; for that was about all the religion that 
the Jesuits had inculcated in the savages at that early 
date. Not being conversant with the language of 
the Indians, the Jesuits taught them to fear the tor- 
ments of hell, by presenting before them horrible 
pictures of devils torturing lost souls with pitch-forks 
and of victims writhing in brilliant red flames. Even 
after they had mastered the Huron and Algonquin 
dialects, the fathers were unable to present the beauties 
and principles of their religion, because they found 
no words in the Indians' language by which the sav- 
ages could be taught the attributes of the Deity. 
Goodness, charity, faith, hope, love, were words 
unknown in the language of the Algonquins. 

North of the upper St. Lawrence and on the 
borders of the Great Lakes the Jesuits found the 
Hurons, Tobacco Nation, and the Neutrals; tribes 



90 Jesuit Missions 

who cultivated land and raised corn, beans, tobacco, 
and pumpkins, had large stationary villages, and who 
lived a peaceful life, when not molested by the ter- 
rible Mohawks, and other tribes of the Iroquois. As 
early as 1636, Jesuit missions were established among 
these sedentary tribes with varied success, but some 
years later many converts were made. 

The Jesuits early saw the necessity of withdrawing 
their converts from their savage companions, and al- 
though many women and children were somewhat 
steadfast to the white man's God, they were almost 
sure to lapse, when the influence of the priests was 
withdrawn, owing to the ridicule and persecution of 
their companions. 

For many years these devoted priests labored 
among the savage tribes, ministering to their physical 
needs and living as they lived, in the hope of being 
able to baptize a new-born infant, whose hours were 
few, or to administer the last sacrament to a poor 
dying woman, or perhaps a tortured prisoner. 

But at last their efforts were set at naught by the 
w^ar with the Iroquois, which, in 1649, terminated with 
the extinction, as nations, of the Hurons and the 
allied tribes, the Tobacco Nation, the Neutrals, and 
the Eries or Cat Nation. It was during this war 
that many Jesuit priests met with horrible death by 
torture of the most cruel character. It was at tliis 
time that Brebeuf, Gabriel Lalamant, Antonie Dan- 
iel, Garnier, Chabanel, and others lost their lives in 
the discharge of their duties as missionaries to the 
above tribes of Indians. Isaac Jogues, Rene Goupil, 




o^ 



I 



M 



Jesuit Missions 91 

and Lalande had been massacred in the Mohawk 
Valley, and Bressani mutilated and sold to the Dutch 
at Fort Orange by the Indian woman to whom he 
had been given as a slave. 

After this for a number of years there was a sem- 
blance of peace with the Iroquois, because there were 
no enemies to conquer, and the devoted Jesuits began 
to lay plans for establishing missions among the Iro- 
quois. In 1654, Father La Moyne was sent to the 
Onondagas, and in 1655 to the JNIohawks. Dablon 
and Chaumonot were also sent to the Onondagas who, 
in 1656, urged that a mission be established among 
them. In response. Father Le Mercier and two other 
priests, Fremin and Menard, and about fifty French- 
men, set out to establish a settlement among the 
Onondagas. A chapel was built on Onondaga Lake, 
and the Jesuits seemingly had some success in making 
converts; other tribes also asked for fathers to settle 
among them. This first mission came to grief before 
the end of the year, however, the French barely es- 
caping with their lives. Their escape is graphically 
told by Father Paul Ragueneau in the Jesuit 
Relation of 1657-1658. 

In 1656, Chaumonot and Menard were among the 
Cayugas; Dablon, among the Onondagas; and La 
Moyne, among the Mohawks and Oneidas. Very 
little headwaj^ however, was made among the Onei- 
das and Mohawks on account of their proximity to 
the Dutch, of whom they procured brandy and whis- 
key, a traffic of which La Moyne bitterly complained. 
After the expeditions of De Courcelle and De Tracy in 



92 Jesuit Missions 

1666, these fierce warriors became more tractable, and 
Fathers Pierron and Fremin were sent to the jMo- 
hawks, and Bruyas to the Oneidas. In 1669 Father 
Boniface was also sent to the Mohawk mission, and 
the same year we find Fathers Jullien Garnier and 
Pierre Millet at Onondaga, Etienne de Carhiel 
among the Cayugas, and Fremin among the Senecas. 

The mission at Onondaga seems to have had better 
success in making converts than had the fathers at 
the lower villages, and in 1670, among others, the 
great Onondaga chief Ga-ra-kon-tie, was converted 
and baptized in the cathedral of Quebec, Governor 
Courcelle acting as godfather. 

Father Fremin in his report of the Mohawk mis- 
sion says that " In the last eight months I baptized 
fifty-three persons, who have nearly all gone to 
heaven," but he also says that he had only baptized 
three adults, women. The same year Fathers Be- 
schefer and Nicolas were added to this mission. In 
1672, the missionaries to the Iroquios were as follows: 
to the Mohawks, Fathers Bruyas and Boniface ; to the 
Oneidas, Father Millet; to the Onondagas, Father 
de Lamberville; to the Cayugas, Father Carhiel; to 
the Senecas, Fathers Raifeix and Garnier. 

About 1669 or 1670 the French selected a beautiful 
spot on the south side of the St. Lawrence, about 
midway between the town of Montreal and the rapids 
of St. Louis, as a resting place for the missionaries 
among the Iroquois, the Algonquins, and the Otta- 
was, and as a depot for furnishing them more easily 
the things needful for their maintenance. The throngs 



Kryn 93 

of savages resorting thither from all directions made 
it necessary to maintain two priests who were well 
versed in their different languages, in order that the 
Christian Indians from their several countries might 
find at this place spiritual succor. Eighteen or 
twenty Christian Indian families had already settled 
there, attracted by the beauty and advantages of the 
site. It is described as an elevated plain, watered 
by a little river of great beauty abounding with fish, 
and extending for two leagues along the St. Lawrence 
River. It was called La Prairie de la Magdelene, 
abbreviated to La Prairie. None but Praying In- 
dians were allowed to settle here, and no liquor or 
drunkenness was permitted within the bounds of this 
beautiful spot. 

Indians of all nations were found there, — Hurons, 
Andastes, Abanakis, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, 
Algonquins, and of the ISTeutral Nation, many of 
whom had been dwellers among the Iroquois, as 
prisoners of w^ar. 

In the year 1672, fifteen Praying Indians of the 
Mohawks went to live with the Christian Hurons at 
Notre Dame de Foy, near Quebec. In the year 1673, 
Kryn, the great Mohawk, visited the St. Lawrence, 
and was so charmed by the affairs at La Prairie that 
he became a convert to the Catholic faith, returned to 
Gandawague, his home on the Mohawk, became re- 
conciled to his wife from whom he had separated, 
and after a few days of exhortation, induced between 
thirt}^ and forty men, women, and children to accom- 
pany him to Canada with the purpose of settling at 



94 



Kryn 



La Prairie. This is the largest number of Mohawks 
that we can find who deserted their homes on the 
Mohawk and settled at La Prairie. 

This Christian settlement was increased in popu- 
lation by the Jesuit priests at all the missions, who 
urged converts to forsake their old homes, that they 
might worship God according to the instruction of 
the priests of the Catholic Church. 

In this manner the population was made up of 
Praying Indians recruited from all the tribes 
wherever the Jesuits had got a foothold, and in a 
few years the settlement was moved up the river 
St. Lawrence to the St. Louis Rapids, and the mis- 
sion, which bore the name St. rran9ois Xavier du 
Prez (St. Francis Xavier of the Prairie), was 
changed to St. Francois Xavier du Sault, or St. Fran- 
cis Xavier " at the rapids." A few years later this 
was called by the Indian name Caughnawaga, mean- 
ing " at the rapids." Hence the term Caughnawaga, 
which belongs to the St. Lawrence River, and not to 
the Mohawk. 

Kryn, the great Mohawk, soon became a leader 
among the Praying Indians, and was undoubtedly a 
warrior of great ability. It was he that led the Mo- 
hawks against the Mahicans in 1669, when the latter 
tribe was driven to the Connecticut River, from which 
they did not return for more than half a century. 
The engagement took place near Hoffman, New 
York, and gave the name " Kinaquarione " to the 
high hill west of the station, meaning " the place where 
the last great battle was fought." 



Kryn 95 

In 1690, he also led the Caughnawaga, or Praying 
Indians, in the attack and destruction of Schenectady. 
Probably the fact that the most prominent warrior 
of Caughnawaga was a noted Mohawk chieftain has 
led to the erroneous inference that all the Praying 
Indians at the above named place were also Mohawks, 
but this was not the case, as they were made up of 
converts from all tribes of New France and from the 
Iroquois. Kryn was killed in 1690, while with a 
war party near Salmon River. 



CHAPTER VII 

MOHAWKS NOT ALWAYS VICTORIOUS STORY OF PIS- 
CARET, THE ALGONQUIN ACTIVITY OF MOHAWKS 

AGAINST THE HURONS CAPTURE OF FATHER 

BRESSANI CANNIBALISM OF THE MOHAWKS 

TTHE Mohawks were not always victorious in their 
-* conflicts with the Algonquins. Among the 
Algonquins was an Indian called by the French 
Piscaret, a man of large stature, athletic, and fleet. 
He had received baptism and behaved like a Chris- 
tian. In midsummer of 1642 a band of fifteen Algon- 
quins, of whom Piscaret was the leader, was put to 
flight by the Mohawks, four captured or killed, and 
a number of those who returned were wounded, 
wretched and naked, and without arms. It was their 
firm belief that Piscaret and eight of their people 
had been surprised and killed on the spot; in fact 
they asserted that they had seen their arms among 
the victors. But Piscaret, who seemed to have as many 
lives as a cat, returned in a few days without wounds. 
Once, it is said, he entered an Iroquois town on a 
dark night and hid himself in a large pile of wood, 
from which later he crept into a lodge, and finding 
the inmates asleep, killed them with his war-club, 
scalped them, and withdrew to the wood-pile. 

In the morning the inmates of the village were 

96 



Story of Piscaret 9f 

furious and scattered through the woods in every 
direction in a vain effort to discover the intruder. 
The second night he again emerged from his retreat 
and repeated his exploit of the night before. On 
the third night every family placed sentinels, and 
Piscaret, stealthily creeping from lodge to lodge, 
found watches everywhere. At length he saw a 
sentinel asleep at one end of a lodge, though the 
watcher at the other end was awake and vigilant. 
Pushing aside the frail bark door, he struck the 
sleeper a fatal blow, yelled his war-cry, and fled. The 
whole village swarmed after him, but being a very 
swift runner, Piscaret easily kept ahead of them dur- 
ing the darkness. When daylight came he would 
occasionally show himself to his pursuers, in order to 
lure them on, when he would utter his war-cry, and 
soon distance them again. At night all but six had 
given up the chase, and these exhausted were about 
to give up in despair. 

Piscaret discovered a hollow tree and turning aside 
from the trail crept in and hid himself, while the 
Iroquois, losing trace of him in the dark, lay down 
to sleep near by. During the night he emerged from 
his hiding place and approached his pursuers and, 
with rapid strokes of his war-club, slew them all. 
Stopping only long enough to tear their scalps from 
their heads, he resumed his homeward journey in 
triumph. Many other stories of this wily warrior 
are told, but we will quote but one other, which bears 
on the subject we are pursuing. It is related by 
Bartholomew Vimont, a Jesuit priest. 



98 Story of Piscaret 

Early in the spring of 1645, Piscaret, with six 
other converted Indians, set out on a war party and, 
after dragging their canoes over the frozen St. Law- 
rence, launched them on the river Richelieu. As- 
cending to Lake Champlain, they hid themselves in 
\the leafless forests of Grand Island, near Cumber- 
land Head, watching eagerly for their enemies, the 
Mohawks. 

One day they heard a shot on the mainland. 
" Come, friends," says Piscaret, " we must get our 
dinner; perhaps it will be our last, for we must die 
before we run." Having dined to their contentment, 
the philosophic warriors prepared for action. 

It was the policy of the French at this time, or 
rather one of the schemes of the Jesuits to induce adult 
Indians to embrace Christianity, that only converted 
savages could purchase firearms. As the party is 
said to have embraced Christianity, they were prob- 
ably better armed than the Mohawk warriors. 

One of Piscaret's band was sent to reconnoitre and 
soon returned and reported that two canoes full of 
JNIohaM^k warriors were approaching the island. Pis- 
caret immediately placed his men in ambush at a point 
that their enemies were approaching. The canoes 
were some distance apart and as the foremost drew 
near, each of the Algonquins chose his mark and 
fired simultaneously, with such effect that six of the 
seven warriors were killed, but the seventh jumped 
overboard and swam to the other canoe, where he was 
taken in. Enraged at their loss but in nowise dis- 
mayed, the Mohawks, instead of striving to escape, 




In Cooper's Cave, Glens Falls, X. Y. 



Story of Piscaret 99 

paddled hastily for the shore of the island in order 
to land, give battle, and avenge the death of their 
comrades. The remaining canoe now contained eight 
JNIohawks eager for close contest with the hated 
Algonquins. Piscaret and his band, divining the ob- 
ject of their foes, ran through the woods and reached 
the point of landing before the enraged occupants of 
the canoe. A Mohawk rising to fire, Piscaret shot 
him, and in falling he overturned the frail canoe. 
The water being shallow, the warriors regained foot- 
hold, waded to the shore, and made a desperate fight, 
but the Algonquins, having advantage of position and 
firearms against rude weapons and muskets useless 
from their submergence in the lake, killed all but 
three of their enemies and captured two of the sur- 
vivors. Recovering the bodies of the slain, who had 
fallen into the lake, they scalped them and set out 
in triumph on their return, elated almost to a point 
of insanity at the wonderful and unexpected victory 
over fourteen of the redoubtable Mohawks. One of 
the captives, still defiant and abusive, received a blow 
to silence him, but otherwise they were well treated. 
As the successful warriors approached Sillery, a mis- 
sion above Quebec, they raised their song of triumph 
and beat their paddles on the edge of their canoes, 
and at the same time raised aloft the eleven scalps 
attached to poles. The Indians fired their guns and 
screeched and danced in jubilation, and a squad of 
soldiers from Quebec fired a salute of musketry. 

On the next day Governor JNIontmagny came to 
Sillery, and a grand council was held at the house 



loo Story of Piscaret 

of the Jesuits. The two ^Mohawks were present, 
seated with seeming imperturbabihty. When they com- 
prehended that their hves w^ere safe, one of them, a 
man of great size, arose and addressed the Governor: 

" Onontio, I am saved from fire; my body is de- 
Hvered from death. Onontio, you have given me my 
Hfe. I thank you for it. I will never forget it. All 
my country will be grateful to you. The earth will 
be bright; the river calm and smooth; there will be 
peace and friendship between us. The shadow is be- 
fore my eyes no longer. The spirits of my ancestors, 
slain by the Algonquins, have disappeared. Onontio, 
you are good ; we are bad. But our anger is gone ; I 
have no heart but for peace and rejoicing." As he 
said this, he began dancing, holding his hands up- 
raised. Suddenly he snatched a hatchet, brandished 
it for a moment like a madman, and then flung it 
into the fire, saying, as he did so, " Thus I throw 
down my anger! thus I cast away the weapons of 
blood! Farewell war! Now I am your friend 
forever ! " 

The Indians in addressing or speaking of the gov- 
ernors of Canada always called them " Onontio," as 
in after years the governors of New Netherlands were 
called " Brother Corlear," after Arent Van Corlear, 
who was drowned in Lake Champlain in 1667. It 
was an established custom among the Indians, when 
a prominent man of their tribe died or was killed in 
war, to resurrect him with ceremony, by bestowing 
his name upon some worthy member of his tribe, who 
henceforth lost his former identity, and became the 



Story of Piscaret loi 

head of the family of the deceased. To show their 
veneration to their very good friend, Van Corlear, 
they honored him by bestowing his name on the gov- 
ernor of the colony, thereby " raising him up," as the 
ceremony was called.^ 

The decade between 1640 and 1650 was marked by 
great activity among the Iroquois, particularly among 
the Mohawks, and their audacity and cruelties to 
prisoners kept the Hurons and Algonquins close to 
their woodland homes, or under the protection of the 
French at Quebec and the other missions on the St. 
Lawrence. 

1 It may be of interest to our readers to know that the remnant 
of the Mohawk tribe now settled at Brantford and Deseronto in 
the Province of Ontario, still call the Governor of Canada, " Kora," 
evidently a corruption of " Corlear." 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE GREAT IKOQUOIS COUNCIL AT FORT JOHNSON, 

JUNE, 1755 SEVEN years' WAR BATTLE 

OF LAKE GEORGE 

I HAVE been very much interested in reading the 
proceedings, speeches, etc., attending the council 
of the Six Nations, and their aUies, with Colonel 
William Johnson at Fort Johnson (then called 
JSIount Johnson) from June 21 to July 4, 1755, 
when over eleven hundred Indians, men, women, and 
children, gathered around the old gray mansion in 
a council of war. 

For a number of years the French with their usual 
ingenious subtlety had created a great unrest among 
the Iroquois, by assuring them that the English and 
the French were about to combine and destroy the 
Iroquois and take their lands. Rumors were in cir- 
culation from time to time that measures for exter- 
mination were already in progress. In fact, at one 
time the INIohawks of the lower castle at Fort Hunter 
were stampeded and fled to the upper castle at 
Danube, by a rumor that several hundred Albanians 
were marching against them. The discontent among 
the JNIohawks was so universal that Hendrick and 
other leaders were affected by it. Col. William 



Iroquois Council at Fort Johnson 103 

Johnson writes in 1750 that Hendrick was insolent 
to him and would not shake hands with him, because 
of the rumor that Governor Clinton and Johnson 
were in league with the French to kill all of the In- 
dians and take their land. Johnson was soon able 
to convince Hendrick of the fallacy of the report, 
and through him the Mohawks, and the alarm 
subsided. 

The fact that Johnson had resigned from the office 
of Superintendent of Indian Affairs in 1753 com- 
plicated matters and the Six Nations, as soon as they 
comprehended the fact, clamored for his reinstate- 
ment. As soon as the matter was brought to the 
Lords of the Board of Trade in London, General 
Braddock, on his arrival at Alexandria, Virginia, at 
the command of the Board of Trade, reappointed 
Johnson Superintendent of the Six Nations, and their 
allies and dependents. 

The effect was immediate, confidence was restored 
among the Iroquois, the council fire was removed from 
Albany to Mount Johnson, and Johnson was over- 
whelmed by the sachems of the Six Nations with 
congratulations and assurances of fealty. 

At this time word had been received that the French 
had started an expedition for Crown Point, with the 
ultimate intention of marching on Albany. It was 
for the purpose of defeating this project of the 
French that Johnson issued his orders for the gather- 
ing of the clans at Mount Johnson. 

Johnson may well have been gratified with the 
large number that responded to his call, although it 



I04 Iroquois Council at Fort Johnson 

taxed his larder to the utmost to entertain and feed 
the vast numbers that came. Imagine, if you can, 
a private gentleman fifteen miles from any source 
of supplies, with no means of transportation except 
the canoe or the pack on a runner's back, entertain- 
ing for two weeks a horde of twelve hundred of the 
denizens of the forest. 

This council was called after Johnson returned 
from a conference at Alexandria, Virginia, April 14, 
1755, at which time General Braddock, lately arrived 
from England, Governors Delancey of New York, 
Dinwiddie of Virginia, Shirley of Massachusetts, 
Morris of Pennsylvania, Sharpe of Maryland, and 
others, together with Colonel William Johnson, met 
for a council of war. From this conference, Johnson 
returned as Superintendent of the Five Nations, and 
with the military title of Major- General. 

Arrangements were made at that time for mili- 
tary aggression against Acadia, Fort Duquesne, 
Niagara, and Crown Point. The reduction of Crown 
Point, with the assistance of the Iroquois and pro- 
vincial soldiers, was the part of the programme appor- 
tioned to Major-General Johnson, and it was for 
the purpose of enlisting the Six Nations in the expe- 
dition that the council at Fort Johnson had been 
called. The council assembled at Mount John- 
son on Saturday, June 21, 1755. Nine tribes were 
present : 

Senecas Cayugas 

Oneidas Onondagas 

Tiederigrones Schanandarighones 



Iroquois Council at Fort Johnson 105 

Ogquagas Delawares 

Mohawks 

There were present: 
The Hon. WilHam Johnson. 
Rev. Mr. Ogilvie, Missionary at Fort Hunter. 
Peter Wraxall, Sec'y for Indian Affairs. 
Daniel Claus, Arent Stevens, William Printup and 

Jacobus Clement, Interpreters. 
Mr. Ferrall, Capt. Stoddert, Capt. John Butler, 
and others. 

The wide flat extending to the river from the resi- 
dence of Sir William Johnson was the scene of this 
gathering. To the east was the Kayaderosseros 
Creek, while to the west was a slight acclivity, 
sparsely covered with large oaks, pines, and hemlocks. 

Rude wooden benches had been provided on each 
side of a table near the building, at which sat John- 
son, his secretary, Wraxall, the interpreters, and 
other white men of prominence. The benches were 
occupied by the sachems and chiefs of the Iroquois 
and their allies, while in front, in semicircles extend- 
ing back and to the east and to the west, row upon 
row, squatted the warriors and young braves, in the 
order of seniority. Back of these, and gathered on 
the hill slope, were the squaws and children. Here 
and there on the flat lands and on the hills, the curl- 
ing smoke indicated temporary camps of the families 
who had followed the great men of the council. 

Inside of the mansion, and gazing from the win- 
dows on this strange scene, were the two daughters 
of Sir William, ]Mary and Nancy. Molly Brant 



io6 Iroquois Council at Fort Johnson 

had just been installed, and, with the half-breed 
daughters of Caroline Hendrick, Charlotte and Caro- 
line, and William of Canajoharie, together with her 
brother, Joseph Brant, formed a group at the en- 
trance that was restless and interested. The locust 
grove had not yet been planted, and the multitude 
sat in stoic silence, in the blazing glare of the mid- 
summer sun. 

On the outskirts was some evidence of a little 
hilarious disorder, but the participants in it soon sub- 
sided under the stern gaze of the sachems. 

At this conference Sir William delivered his first 
public Speech as Superintendent of the Indians. It 
was translated, and written in the Indian language 
by Daniel Claus, afterwards a son-in-law to Sir 
William. He is said to have been a German gentle- 
man of education, who had lived some time among 
the Indians of the upper castle, in order to learn 
their language. The speech was delivered by the 
Onondaga Sachem Red Head, Mr. Claus reading 
it to him in a low voice, paragraph by paragraph. 
Colonel Johnson, however, had first read the speech 
in English, to the assembled multitude. 

The speech contained all of the imagery of an In- 
dian orator, each salient paragraph ending with the 
gift of a string or belt of wampum. 

A string was git^en to wipe away their tears and 
to clear their throats. He told them of his meeting 
with the Governors, and his appointment as sole 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and of the re- 
moval of the council fire from Albany to Fort John- 







Hat 111' MoiiuiiuMit, J.ake (icorinr. Cliier lleudrick — (leiieral 
!:^ir William Johusou. 



Iroquois Council at Fort Johnson 107 

son. He urged unity among them. " Brothers 
joined together with love and confidence are like a 
great bundle of sticks which cannot be broken whilst 
the parts are bound together, but when separated 
from each other, a child may break them." Here a 
bundle of sticks bound together, like the fasces of 
a Roman lictor, was delivered to the speaker, who 
exemplified the metaphor and gave the bundle to a 
sachem on the front bench, upon which a universal 
shout of applause arose from the multitude. " So 
will it be with you, if you keep in union and love 
with one another." After sitting in silence for a 
number of minutes, at a motion from Hendrick, the 
great sachem of the INIohawks, the council silently 
dissolved. 

The next day was Sunday, and no meeting was 
held, but on ^Monday the sachems announced that 
they were ready to answer Sir William's address. 
The same sachem who translated Sir William's 
speech had been chosen to answer it. His name, al- 
most unpronounceable, was Kaghs-wugh-tio-ni, an 
Onondaga, whose English name w^as Red Head. 
Hendrick had been nominated fpr speaker but had 
declined in favor of Red Head. His speech was 
diplomatic in the extreme. He returned condolence 
for condolence, compliment for compliment. He ex- 
pressed gratification that the council fire had been 
removed from Albany to Fort Johnson; he agreed 
with Sir William that in union there was strength, 
as exemplified by the bundle of sticks; he was over- 
joyed to know that Sir William had been made 



io8 Iroquois Council at Fort Johnson 

Superintendent and expressed the utmost confidence 
in his friendship and his love of the Six Nations, but 
not a word was said about their union with the whites 
in the coming conflict with the French, and with the 
skill of a trained diplomat he said : " If we are de- 
ficient in any matter of form, or should forget to 
answer any part of your speech, you will excuse us. 
We only depend upon our memories, and cannot have 
recourse, as you may, to any written records." 

On the 24th, Sir William delivered another long 
speech, reciting to the Indians incidents of the 
treachery of the French, and the firm friendship and 
honest dealing of the English, and the mutual de- 
pendence of the English and of the Iroquois on each 
other, and urged the Six Nations to stand by the 
colonists as in the past. He pictured the disastrous 
effect upon the several cantons, if their enemies in 
New France should defeat the English; and said: 
" INIy kettle is on the fire, my canoe is ready to put in 
the water, my gun is loaded, my sword by my side 
and my axe sharpened. I desire and expect you will 
now take up the hatchet and join us, your brethren, 
against all our enemies." 

When the speech was ended, he desired they should 
appoint a deputation of each nation, to go upstairs 
with him where the speech would be again read over 
to them. 

On the 25th a speech from General Braddock was 
read, and with great enthusiasm Sir William threw 
down the war-belt in General Braddock's name, which 
was at once taken up by an Oneida sachem. There- 



Iroquois Council at Fort Johnson 109 

upon Arent Stevens, the interpreter, whose mother 
was a half-breed, began the war-dance for General 
Braddock, and then a war-dance for General John- 
son, to both of which dances all the sachems bore 
the usual chorus. 

At the end of the assembly, Johnson ordered a 
large tub of punch set out for the sachems so that 
they might drink the health of the King. 

On the 26th, Ottrowana, a great sachem and war- 
rior of the Cayuga nation, arrived with nineteen 
additional warriors. With him came Nockie, a great 
sachem of the Missisagauaes (Ojibwas). On the 
28th, Nockie, the Missisagauae, paid his respects to 
Sir William. Nockie also said that he would like 
to talk with him in private, at a future time. 

A meeting was held on June 28th, but one of the 
sachems reported that some of the leading sachems 
of the other nations, who were expected to have met 
with them for the purpose of reaching some conclusion, 
had become so drunk that they could not attend. Sir 
William desired to know where they got their rum. 
They replied that none had been sold in the vicinity 
of Fort Johnson, but it had been secured at Albany 
and Schenectady. Five or six kegs of rum had been 
discovered, which Sir William had ordered away and 
locked up, but great quantities were daily disposed 
of among the Indians, and sold to them at Albany 
and Schenectady. 

June 29th another council was held, at which the 
Onondaga sachem Red Head was the speaker for the 
Six Nations. He replied to Sir William's address 



no Iroquois Council at Fort Johnson 

b\ answering each paragraph, each sahent point, 
giving belt for belt. 

After a whole week spent in conference he an- 
nounced that the Iroquois and their allies would follow 
wherever Johnson led, and in illustrating the bond 
of union between the Indians and the English the 
bundle of sticks was again brought forward and the 
metaj^hor exemplified. At this satisfactory ending 
of the council, shouts, more piercing than musical, 
filled the air. Johnson was happy, and the sachems 
and warriors were well pleased. 

In the evening the war-kettle w^as put on the fire, 
and at night the war-dance was celebrated. Sir Wil- 
liam began it, followed by Red Head and the Oneida 
sachem, speaker of the day, and many of the head 
warriors. It was a scene of savage revel lasting far 
into the night. 

When we read the speeches made at this confer- 
ence, and notice the subtle diplomacy governing all 
their utterances and the poetic imagery of many 
of the sentences, we cannot call the JMohawks 
and their allies savages, nor even barbarians: they 
might rather be called by the name the Delawares 
appropriated to themselves — Leni Lenape — real 
men. 

On Juh^ 5th the council dissolved and the Indians 
returned to their homes with new guns, or old ones 
mended by the smith, gun-powder and ball, corn, 
strouds and blankets, presents provided by the Eng- 
lish Government through Sir William, warriors and 
sachems promising to follow Sir William to battle 



Iroquois Council at Fort Johnson m 

whenever he called them down from their forest 
homes. 

It is quite evident that the fact that the Caughna- 
wagas on the St. Lawrence, a majority of whom were 
Iroquois who had succumbed to the blandishments of 
the Jesuits, had joined the mission at Caughnawaga 
and become Roman Catholics, was a disturbing ele- 
ment that prolonged the council for fourteen days. 

It was well understood by members of the council 
that the Caughnawagas were loyal to the French, and 
would form part of the French forces in the coming 
conflict at Lake George or Lake Champlain. Their 
name was frequently mentioned by Sir William, and 
an attempt was made to dissuade them from enter- 
ing into the conflict, where kinsmen would be found 
fighting against kinsmen, brothers against brothers. 
But all attempts failed, and Hendrick undoubtedly 
fell pierced by a bullet sped by a renegade Iroquois. 

Efforts were made at the council to induce the 
Caughnawagas to refrain from entering into the con- 
test, and delegates from the English, and from the 
Onondaga and other nations were sent to them, but 
the overtures were of no avail. At last, on July 8th, 
Sir William said: " The Caughnawagas are at pres- 
ent looked upon and treated by the English as our 
brethren; they come now freely and unmolested to 
Albany, and the soldiers have orders to treat them 
civilly, and as friends. We have no desire to spill 
a drop of their blood. I do propose to send a mes- 
sage to them to return to their friends, and if they 
will not, to stand out of the way and not join the 



112 Iroquois Council at Fort Johnson 

French against us. But if they will be obstinate 
and act as enemies against us, you cannot blame us 
if we treat them as their headstrong rashness will 
deserve. And as I would do by my own son, so 
will I do by them. Do you ask or expect more, and 
can I speak more reasonably or fairly? I give you 
this belt, and I mean what I saj^" 

N. B. In Sir William's speech of the 24th, he 
speaks of going upstairs^ and toward the end of the 
council he also speaks of going wp-stairs to consult 
with some of the sachems. 

Query — Is it not safe to assume that Sir Wil- 
liam's room, his office, was the panelled west room in 
the second story of Old Fort Johnson? 

After the destruction of the Mohawk castles by 
De Tracy in 1666, the Mohawks, being overawed by 
the display of the power of the French of Canada, 
ceased their attacks on the French for two decades, 
although frequent raids WTre made on their Indian 
allies. 

Somewhat later they did not confine their attacks 
to the Indians alone, but frequently and incidentally 
included the French settlements in their attacks, 
thereby terrorizing New France, which at that time 
was on the verge of a famine on account of the fear 
of the agriculturists to cultivate their fields. 

Later, the Seven Years' War in Europe was in- 
augurated ; the strife that involved the w hole civilized 
world began on this continent, and the Champlain_ 




o 



Iroquois Council at Fort Johnson 113 

Valley became a battle-ground of the giants of 
Europe. Parkman quotes from Voltaire: " Such 
was the complication of political interests, that a 
cannon-shot fired in America gave the signal that 
set Europe in a blaze." Parkman says: "It was 
not a cannon-shot, but a volley from the hunting 
pieces of a few backwoodsmen, commanded by a 
Virginian youth, George Washington, at Great 
]Meadows, Pennsylvania, Maj^ 28, 1754 "; leading up 
to the massacre of Fort Duquesne, and the victory 
of General Johnson at Lake George, and finally 
and forever putting an end to French rule in North 
America. 

At this period, the total population of the French 
colonies in America, including Canada and Louisi- 
ana, did not number eighty thousand souls, while the 
population of the English colonies amounted to one 
million three hundred thousand souls. 

Hitherto the jealousy between the English colonies 
prevented co-operation, and any attack of the French 
and their Indian allies was a source of constant terror 
to the border settlements. 

France had about two thousand eight hundred 
regular troops and four thousand well-trained Cana- 
dian militia. However, in the battle of Lake George, 
1755, the troops were nearly all provincial soldiers 
and Indians. 

The campaigns of 1757-58-59 were fought, in a 
large measure, by British regulars, although the few 
provincials that helped swell the ranks of the British 
did yeoman's service in the three campaigns. 



114 Governor Shirley 

On Sei^tember 3, 1755, Major-General Johnson 
wrote to the Board of Trade, from Lake George, 
that two hundred and fifty Iroquois had arrived, and 
he expected that he would have three hundred In- 
dians before he would be able to leave that place for 
Crown Point. An unfortunate enmity existed, at 
this time, between Johnson and Governor Shirley. 

Judging from the speech made by Hendrick at 
Lake George, September 4, 1755, General Johnson 
had good reasons for hating and distrusting the man. 

Hendrick spoke as follows, addi-essing Johnson: 
" Brother : 

" Some time ago we of the Mohawk castles were 
greatly alarmed and much concerned, and we take 
this opportunity of speaking our minds, in the pres- 
ence of many gentlemen, concerning Bro. Gov. Shir- 
ley who has gone to Oswego, — he told us that though 
we thought that you, our brother, had the sole man- 
agement of Indian affairs, yet he was over all; that 
he could pull down, and set up. He told us ' that 
he had always been this great man, and that you, our 
brother, was but an upstart of yesterday.' These 
kind of discourses from him caused great uneasiness 
and confusion amongst us, and he confirmed these 
things by a large belt of wampum. 

" Brother, he further told us when he came to our 
fort : ' This is my fort, it was built by my order and 
direction, I am Ruler and IMaster here, and now 
Brethren, I desire twenty of your young warriors 
from this castle to join me as your brother Wariahe- 
jage promised me you would do, and be ready at a 



Governor Shirley 115 

whistle. Brethren you may see I have the chief com- 
mand, here is money for you, my pockets are full, 
you shan't want, besides I have goods and arms ready 
for all that will go with me.' He said a great deal 
more of the like kind, which time will not permit us 
to repeat at present. 

" He was two days pressing and working upon my 
brother Abraham, to go with him as minister for the 
Indians — he said to him, ' Wariahejage gives you no 
wages, why should you go to Crown Point? you will 
do nothing there but crack lice, with me there will be 
something worth doing.' 

" But Brother, notwithstanding all these tempta- 
tions and speeches, we that are come and now here, 
were determined to remain steadfast to you, and 
had it not been for Governor Shirley's money and 
speeches, you would have seen all the Six Nations 
here." 

With such " an enemy in camp " it is a wonder 
that Johnson won the victory at Lake George at all. 

At the conference, at Alexandria, spoken of at the 
Grand Council of the Iroquois at Fort Johnson, 
Governor Shirley proposed the following campaign: 
first, the reduction of Fort Duquesne (now Pitts- 
burg, Pennsylvania) to be commanded by the un- 
fortunate General Braddock; the capture of Fort 
Niagara, commanded by Governor Shirley; and the 
expedition to Crown Point under command of Sir 
William Johnson. The disastrous result of the ex- 
pedition of General Braddock and the abortive at- 
tempt of Governor Shirley, who did not get beyond 



ii6 Governor Shirley 

Oswego, are well-known incidents of the campaign 
of 1755. 

The news of the defeat of Braddock, and the at- 
tempt of Shirley to induce the Senecas to accompany 
him to Oswego, resulted in the Senecas remaining at 
home, and instead of six hundred of this tribe follow- 
ing Johnson, only twenty-five or thirty accompanied 
Captain JNIontour, and instead of the one thousand 
Iroquois that Johnson expected, there were about 
five hundred. 

However, on August 8th General Johnson himself 
set out from Albany, with the stores, baggage-train, 
bateaux, artillery, and troops. It is said that the com- 
mand consisted of two thousand five hundred provin- 
cial troops from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and 
Connecticut, one thousand from New York, and the 
Iroquois, in all about four thousand five hundred 
men. With them went Chief Hendrick, and Joseph 
Brant, then a mere boy of thirteen, carrying a light 
gun given him by General Johnson, and about one 
hundred and fifty Mohawks. 

August 14th he arrived at Fort Edward. The 
news of Braddock's defeat had reached them, but 
the New York and New England troops were not 
disheartened, and were full of ardor and impatient 
of delay. 

Colonel Lyman was equally restive under delay. 
Indeed a day or two before General Johnson arrived 
at Fort Edward, Lyman had set three hundred of 
his men to work to cut a road across the hills to 
Fort Ann, supposing that the army would proceed 



Expedition to Crown Point 117 

against Crown Point by the way of Wood Creek, 
and the head of Lake Champlain, General Johnson, 
on his arrival, called a council of war to decide upon 
the best route. This council chose the Lake George 
route. 

About seven years before. General Johnson had 
made a road from the head of Lake George to Fort 
Edward or Glens Falls, but this road had been neg- 
lected and it had to be cleared out, so two thousand 
men were sent forward to restore this road and to 
erect, at the head of the lake, a fort and suitable 
buildings to store arms and munitions of war as they 
should arrive. 

Leaving Colonel Lyman to await the rest of the 
troops, on the 26th of August Johnson pushed for- 
ward to the head of the lake, a distance of fifteen 
miles, with three thousand four hundred men, reach- 
ing it at dusk, August 28th. The next morning, he 
selected a position for his camp on a bluff shore of 
the lake, flanked at both ends by a thickly wooded 
swamp with small creeks entering therein. On this 
day, August 29, 1755, Johnson changed the name of 
the lake from St. Sacrament to Lake George, in 
honor of King George 11. At this period Lake 
George was in all its pristine loveliness, the virgin 
forests extending to the shores of the lake on every 
side. It was only approachable by the trails of the 
Amerinds and was disturbed only by war and hunt- 
ing parties, on their way to or from the St. Lawrence. 
The troops immediately set about clearing a place 
for a camp capable of sheltering five thousand 



ii8 Advance to Lake Georore 



fc) 



men and of housing a proportionate quantity of 
stores. 

Meanwhile, Colonel Lyman left at Fort Edward a 
garrison of two hundred and fifty Connecticut pro- 
vincials and five companies of the New York regi- 
ment, and with the balance of the dilatory troops, 
who had arrived, joined the camp at Lake George 
September 3d, bringing with him all the heavy 
artillery. 

While Johnson lay at Lake George, Dieskau pre- 
pared a surprise for him, and concluded not to wait 
to be attacked, but moved nearly his whole force to 
Carillon or Fort Ticonderoga, which commanded 
both routes by which Johnson could advance, that of 
Wood Creek and that by the way of Lake George. 
Hearing from a prisoner, who was deceiving them, 
that the English had fallen back and that there were 
only five hundred men at Fort Lyman, Dieskau re- 
solved by a rapid movement to seize the place. At 
noon the same day, leaving part of his force at Ticon- 
deroga, he embarked the rest in canoes and advanced 
along the narrow prolongation of Lake Champlain, 
which stretched southward through the wilderness, to 
where the village of Whitehall now stands, until he 
came to a point where the lake dwindled to a mere 
canal, while two mighty rocks, capped with stunted 
forests, faced each other from the opposing banks. 
As they neared the site of Whitehall, they turned 
to the right and entered a lonely lake called South 
Bay, where they left their canoes and began their 
march through the forests toward Fort Lyman (now 



Advance to Lake George 119 

Fort Edward). Having captured some mutinous 
drivers, who had left the EngHsh camp without orders, 
they learned that a large force lay encamped at the 
lake. The Indians having refused to attack the fort, 
Dieskau resolved to attack the camp at Lake George. 
Advancing through the gorge they were follow- 
ing, they passed around the south end of French 
Mountain. When within three miles of the head of 
the lake, a prisoner was brought in who told him 
that a column of English troops was approaching. 
Dieskau's preparations were quickly made. The 
Canadians and Indians moved to the front and hid 
themselves in the forests along the slopes of West 
Mountain and the thickets on the other side. Behind 
every bush or tree crouched a Canadian or an In- 
dian, with gun cocked and with ears intent, listening 
for the tramp of the approaching column. 

Some of the drivers who had escaped capture 
returned to Johnson's camp about midnight and re- 
ported a war party on the road to Fort Lyman. 
Johnson called a council at once, and it was de- 
termined to send out two detachments of five hundred 
men each, one toward Fort Lyman and the other 
to South Bay. Hendrick, cliief of the Mohawks, 
a brave and sagacious warrior, expressed his dis- 
sent after a fashion of his own. He picked up a 
stick and broke it; then he picked up several sticks 
and showed that they together could not be broken. 
The hint was taken, and the two detachments were 
joined in one. Still Hendrick shook his head. " If 
they are to be killed," he said, " they are too many; 



1 20 Ambuscade 

if they are to fight, they are too few." Nevertheless 
he resolved to share their fortunes. He was too old 
and too fat to go on foot, but Johnson lent him 
a horse, which he bestrode, and was soon at the head 
of the column, followed by two hundred Mohawk war- 
riors. Lieutenant Colonel Whiting soon came up 
with the balance of the detachment, and the whole 
moved on together, so little conscious of danger that 
no scouts were thrown out in front or flank, and with 
a sense of full security they entered the fatal snare. 
Before they were completely involved, however, the 
sharp eye of old Hendrick detected some sign of an 
enemy. 

At that instant a gun was fired from the bushes, 
the thickets blazed out a deadly fire and the men 
fell by scores. Hendrick's horse was shot down and 
the chief was killed with a bayonet thrust as he tried 
to rise. Colonel Williams was also killed as he 
charged up the slopes on the right, calling his men 
to follow. The rear hurried forward to support their 
comrades, when a hot fire opened upon them from 
the forest, and then there was a panic. The van 
became the rear, and the enemy rushed upon it 
shouting and screeching. 

After a moment of total confusion, a part of Wil- 
liams's regiment, under the command of Whitney, 
rallied and covered the retreat, fighting behind trees 
like Indians, and firing and falling back by turns, 
bravely aided by some of the INIohawks and by a 
detachment which Johnson sent to their aid. A very 
handsome retreat they made, and so continued till 




^ >2 



Zj '^ 



9 2 






o 



Ambuscade ' 121 

they came within three quarters of a mile of the camp. 
So ended the fray long known in New England fire- 
side story, as the " bloody morning scout." 

When the rattle of musketry was heard at the 
camp, gradually becoming louder, it was known that 
their comrades were retreating, and hasty prepara- 
tions were made for defending the camp. A barri- 
cade was made along the front, partly by wagons and 
inverted bateaux, but chiefly by trunks of trees hastily 
hewn down in the forest and laid end to end in a row. 

Three cannons were planted to sweep the road, and 
another was dragged to the ridge of the hill. Five 
hundred men were detailed to guard the flanks, al- 
ready protected by swamps, right and left. The rest 
stood behind the wagons, or lay flat behind the logs 
and inverted bateaux. Besides Indians (about three 
hundred) the force numbered between sixteen and 
seventeen hundred rustics. 

They were hardly at their posts, when they saw 
ranks of white-coated soldiers moving down the road, 
and the glint of bayonets that seemed innumerable. 
At the same time a burst of war-whoops rose along 
the front, and " the Canadians and Indians came run- 
ning with undoubted courage, right down the hill 
upon us, expecting us to flee. If Dieskau had made 
an assault at that instant, there could be but little 
doubt of the result. He had his regulars well in 
hand, but the rest, red and white, were scattered 
through the woods and swamps, yelling and firing 
behind trees." The regulars, who deployed and fired 
by platoons, were met by a fire of grape from the 



122 Battle of Lake George 

artillery, which broke their ranks and scattered them 
through the forest, seeking cover. 

The fire now became general, during which John- 
son received a flesh wound in the thigh, and returned 
to his tent, leaving General Lyman in command for 
the rest of the day. 

Baron Dieskau was also wounded three times, the 
last time across the hips, but seated behind a tree, he 
denounced the Canadians and Indians, and ordered 
his adjutant to lead the regulars in a last effort 
against the English. But it was too late. Johnson's 
men were already crossing their row of logs, and in 
a few moments the whole dashed forward with a 
shout, falling upon the enemy with hatchets and the 
butts of their guns. The French and their allies 
fled. 

It may be apropos to introduce at this time the 
following letter from Baron de Dieskau to M. de 
Vaudreuil: 

" Camp of the English Army 
" At Lake St. Sacrament, Sept. 15, 177.5. 

" Sir: 

"I am defeated; my detachment is routed, a number 
of men killed and thirty or forty are prisoners, as 
I am told. I and M. Burnier, my Aid de Camp, 
are among the latter. I have received my share, four 
gunshot wounds, one of which is mortal. I owe this 
misfortune to the Iroquois. (Caughnawagas.) Our 
affair was well begun, but as soon as the Iroquois per- 
ceived some JNIohawks, they came to a dead halt; the 



Baron Dieskau 123 

Abenaquls and other Indians continued some time but 
disappeared by degrees; this disheartened the Cana- 
dians, and I found mj^self with the French troops 
engaged alone. I bore the attack, beheving that I 
might rally the Canadians and perhaps the Indians, 
in which I did not succeed. 

" The Regulars received the whole of the enemy's 
fire and were almost cut to pieces. I prophesied to 
you Sir that the Iroquois would play some scurvy 
trick; it is unfortunate that I am such a good pro- 
phet; I cannot too much acknowledge Mr. de John- 
son's kindness and attention to me. He is to send 
me to Orange to-morrow. I know not my fate 
either as regards my health or the disposition of my 
person. 

" I have the honor to be &c., 

" Baron de Dieskau." 

Some time before the final rout several hundred 
Canadians and Indians left the field and returned to 
the scene of the morning ambush to plunder and 
scalp the dead. While resting themselves near a pool 
in the forest, they were set upon by a scouting party 
from Fort Lyman, consisting chiefly of backwoods- 
men, under command of Captains Folsom and Mc- 
Ginnis. The assailants were greatly outnumbered, 
but after a hard fight the Canadians and Indians 
fled. The bodies of the slain were thrown into the 
pool which bears to this day the name of Bloody 
Pond. 

The English loss in killed, wounded, and missing 



124 Baron Dieskau 

at the battle of Lake George was two hundred and 
sixty -two, and that of the French, by their own ac- 
count, was two hundred and twenty-eight. For this 
victory. General Johnson was made baronet, by King 
George II., and Parliament gave him five thousand 
pounds. 



CHAPTER IX 

DEFENCE OF FORT WILLIAM HENRY MASSACRE OF 

GARRISON GENERAL SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON 

LAKE GEORGE, nestling among the foot-hills 
of the Adirondacks, may well be called historic 
territory, as around its shores have surged warriors, 
savage and civilized, in conflict, for ages. The Mahi- 
cans, Adirondacks, Montagues, and other Algonquin 
tribes of Canada, the Hurons, the Mohawks, and 
other Iroquois tribes fought each other along its 
shores and on its waters for centuries before the 
advent of the white man upon this continent. 

Champlain knew of its existence in 1609, when he, 
together with the Algonquins, met and defeated the 
Mohawks on the shores of the lake that bears his 
name. 

The reader will remember that almost at the same 
period that Champlain was sailing up the river St. 
Lawrence, thereby adding a vast territory to the pos- 
sessions of Henry the Fourth, King of France, Henry 
Hudson, an English navigator in the employ of the 
Dutch East India Company, was exploring that 
noble waterway which bears his name, Hudson River, 
and claiming, for the Dutch, lands extending from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. 

Gradually, Canada (or New France as it was then 

125 



126 Fort William Henry 

called) was peopled by the French, while the Hud- 
son and its principal tributary, the Mohawk, were 
being settled, first by the Dutch and afterward by 
the English, and along the coast, villages and cities 
were springing up, notwithstanding the hostility of 
some of the savage tribes, until, a century and a half 
after the voyages of Champlain and Hudson, the 
English colonies numbered about a million souls, 
while the population of New France is said to have 
been less than one hundred thousand. The English 
colonies, however, extended along the coast of the 
Atlantic from Newfoundland to Florida, but did not 
extend far into the wilderness. 

The French early made friends with the northern 
and western Indians, but the warlike Iroquois, and 
particularly the Mohawks, who were made deadly 
enemies of the French by their defeat on Lake Cham- 
plain in 1609, stood as a bulwark between the English 
on the one hand and the French and their Indians 
on the other, and prevented the utter extinction of 
the feeble settlements along the Mohawk Valley. 
Whenever France and England were at war, the 
frontiers of the English colonies were sure to be 
cruelly afflicted by incursions of the Indians living 
in the interior, instigated and assisted by the inhabi- 
tants of New France. Although the Iroquois and 
the colonists of New York retaliated and terrorized 
the settlers on the St. Lawrence, inflicting terrible 
injuries on the French and Indians alike, the want 
of unity between the Colonists along the coast pre- 
vented united action. 



Fort William Henry 127 

OBut it is not my intention to give the reader a 
history of the trials and tribulations of the hardy 
colonists of America during a century and a half, 
but to give him an incident of the campaign of 1757. 

Although I have shown the disparity of the popu- 
lations of the two sections of the country, and the 
desire of the colonists to drive the French from the 
western world, it was not until 1755, that England 
aroused herself and used strenuous efforts to accom- 
plish that object. The control of the waterway of 
Lake Champlain and Lake George was coveted by 
both parties, but the building of the French fortresses 
at Crown Point and at Ticonderoga, and the expedi- 
tion of Baron Dieskau in 1755, aroused the clans and 
resulted in the victory of Sir William Johnson, in 
what is known in history as the battle of Lake 
George. 

Although Dieskau was totally defeated, wounded, 
and taken prisoner, Johnson did not follow up his 
advantage as he should have done, and the French 
forces retreated to Ticonderoga, which soon was 
heavily entrenched. 

Sir William, however, soon built a fort at the head 
of Lake George, which was constructed in the main 
of earth embankments, and the necessary wooden 
quarters for troops. It was called Fort William 
Henry, and garrisoned by about three thousand 
troops, under a brave English officer. Colonel Munro, 
while about fifteen miles away, at Fort Edward, was 
a garrison of four thousand English troops under 
General Webb. 



128 Pierre Roubaud 

In the spring of 1757 General Montcalm (who 
was afterwards killed at the storming of Quebec by 
the victorious English under General Wolfe in Sep- 
tember, 1759) had advanced up the St. Lawrence 
and Richelieu rivers, to Lake Champlain, with an 
army of eight thousand men, consisting of veteran 
French soldiers, Canadians, and about two thousand 
Indians of various Algonquin tribes. Strongly en- 
trenched at Crown Point, he made an attempt to 
surprise Fort William Henry, biit the vigilance of 
Colonel Munro defeated his plans and he returned 
to Crown Point, leaving a small party at Fort 
Ticonderoga. 

All of the accounts of the use of Indians in con- 
nection with white troops in warfare seem to indicate 
that they were often more of a menace than support 
to disciplined troops, as they would generally submit 
to no control except their own unruly passions. 

A Jesuit priest, Pierre Roubaud, has given a 
graphic account of the behavior of the Canadian sav- 
ages connected with this expedition. An appetite 
for liquor was a favorite passion, and the universal 
weakness of all the savage tribes, and there were al- 
ways many traders who were only too anxious to 
furnish them fire-water, in order that they might 
profit by their inebriation. 

Toward evening of a day when the French were 
encamped at Crown Point, some of the war-chiefs 
had organized a war-dance or war-feast, as it was 
sometimes called. The announcement of a war- 
dance was sure to draw a large crowd, and the as- 



Pierre Roubaud 129 

sembly at this time was no exception to the rule; for 
line upon line in circular rows surrounded the central 
fire that was cooking the food for the feasting. Rou- 
baud says: 

" The large assembly was decorated with every 
ornament most fitted to disfigure the countenance. 
Vermilion, w^hite, green, yellow, and black made of 
soot or the scraping of pots — on a single savage face 
was seen united all these different colors, applied by 
the aid of a little bear's grease which serves as an 
unguent. This is applied not only to the face, but 
sometimes to the whole form, in such a manner that 
the naked body appeared to be clothed. Rings in 
the nose and ears, sometimes of large size; a shirt 
smeared with vermilion, porcelain necklaces, silver 
bracelets, a large knife in its sheath hanging over 
the breast, and moccasins of elk-skin. The captains 
were distinguished only by a curiously wrought stone 
gorget, and the chiefs by a metal medallion portrait 
of the king." 

The painting of the body and face had a twofold 
purpose: in the first place, the making the face hide- 
ous for the purpose of frightening their opponents ; in 
the second place, for the purpose of disguise. Fre- 
quently a war party was composed of many boys from 
sixteen to twenty years of age, young bucks, as they 
w^re called. With a profuse use of paint on body 
and face, the enemy would frequently mistake a 
body of boys so decorated, for seasoned warriors, and 
the moral effect was thus enhanced. Just as to-day 
some of the most audacious crimes are often 



130 Pierre Roubaud 

committed by lads, so young Indians were often 
responsible for the hideous crimes attributed to the 
Amerinds. It is on record that a war party of thirty 
Onondaga lads, out for their first scalps, repeatedly 
met parties of seasoned warriors of the brave An- 
dastes, and defeated them by their fiercely audacious 
attacks, taking many scalps. 

The beginning of a war-feast was dignified and 
orderly in a high degree but frequently ended in what 
might be called a frantic revel. After a respectful 
silence, a most lugubrious chant, begun by one voice, 
was taken up by a number of chiefs appointed for 
that purpose, accompanied by the shaking of turtle 
rattles and the beating of tom-toms. This chant, by 
the greatest stretch of imagination, could not be called 
music, but resembled the cries and howling of wolves 
or of other wild animals. This was not the begin- 
ning of the meeting, but only the prelude. Then, 
one after another, different chiefs would arise and 
recite their deeds of prowess, until some particular 
captain would invite warriors to join him on the war- 
path. As different savages would arise and join the 
dancing circle, the excitement increased until the 
space around the fire would be filled with a dancing, 
howling ring of Indians, gesticulating and exhibiting 
the most ferocious passions, until at last all had re- 
tired from exhaustion, and the distribution and 
consumption of the feast began. 

Roubaud relates of the return of a small war party 
with five English prisoners. Later at night he came 
upon a large party of Indians squatted around a 



Advance of Montcalm 131 

fire, before which meat was roasting on sticks, which 
he soon discovered was the flesh of an English 
prisoner, while other portions were being converted 
into a horrid broth in a kettle near by. Roubaud 
says that this abomination could not be prevented, 
because, if force had been used to stop it, the 
Ottawas, in a body, would have gone home in a rage. 

In due time the French trooi)s left Crown Point 
and advanced to the lower or northern end of Lake 
George, waiting for a proper time and opportunity 
to attack Fort William Henry at the upper end of 
the lake, thirty miles away. 

On July 26th, Colonel Parker and a party of three 
hundred provincials, in fifteen barges, was sent from 
Fort William Henrj'' to reconnoitre the French out- 
posts. Unfortunately for them Montcalm's scouts 
discovered them, and a large party of Indians were 
sent to lie in ambush at Sabbath-day Point. Parker 
rashly divided his forces, and three of his boats fell 
into the snare and were captured without a shot. 
Three more advanced and shared the same fate. 

When the rest drew near, they were greeted by a 
deadly volley from the thickets, and a swarm of 
canoes filled with naked painted Indians darted out 
upon them. The soldiers in the barges seem to have 
become panic stricken, and although they at first 
fought bravely, they soon fled from the pursuing 
canoes, striving to reach the beach, with the vain hope 
of concealing themselves in the forests from their 
wily foes. 

But strive as they did, they could not escape the 



132 Advance of Montcalm 

swift, light canoes, which, waiting for them to attempt 
a landing, hovered around them like a swarm of flies 
around a bit of odorous cheese. As they jumped into 
the water to make a landing, the Indians were upon 
them, spearing them like fish as they swam. Out of 
this unfortunate expedition, it is said that one hun- 
dred and thirty-one were killed, and one hundred and 
fifty-seven taken prisoners by the Indians, three of 
the bodies being eaten on the spot. 

At last on the first of August, Montcalm set out 
from the lower end of the lake, for the long-expected 
attack on Fort William Henry, Chevalier de Levis, 
with three thousand French and Indians, skirting the 
western shore of the lake, over mountains and through 
forests. A former writer says : " And now as the 
evening drew near was seen one of those wild pag- 
eantries of war which Lake George has often witnessed. 
A restless multitude of birchen canoes, filled with 
half-naked savages, glided by shores and islands like 
troops of waterfowl. Two hundred and fifty bateaux 
came next, moved by sail or oar, some bearing the 
Canadian militia, and some the battalions of old 
France, in trim and gay attire; then the cannon and 
mortars, each on a platform, sustained by two bateaux 
lashed side by side; then the provision bateaux, and 
the field hospital, and lastly a rear-guard of regulars." 
Montcalm chose for the site of his operations the 
ground now covered by the village of Caldwell. 

The progress of the land party was slow, not over 
eight miles a day. At one of the camps the shore 
was overspread with brambles and briars, while a 



Advance of Montcalm 133 

little way up the mountain was the haunt of an im- 
mense number of rattlesnakes. While waiting for 
the arrival of part of the troops, the Indians amused 
themselves in hunting these rattlesnakes, which they 
chase fearlessly, considering it rare sport. When 
caught alive, they cut off the head and tail and cooked 
the flesh, deeming it a great luxury. They considered 
salt mixed with saliva applied to a rattlesnake's bite 
a certain remedy against its venom. 

At last the French troops arrived at the head of 
the lake and a landing was made on the west shore 
at a spot concealed from view from Fort William 
Henry by a point of land that projected into this 
lake. The fort is described as having been an ir- 
regular bastioned square, formed by embanloiients of 
gravel, surmounted by a rampart of heavy logs, laid in 
tiers crossed one upon another, the interstices being 
filled with earth. The lake protected it on the north, 
the swamp on the east, and ditches with chevaux-de- 
frise on the south and west. Seventeen cannon, 
great and small, were mounted on its ramparts. It 
soon became plain to the commandant. Colonel 
Munro, that the French were upon him in over- 
whelming numbers, and the situation of the fortress 
critical, and he at once sent word to General Webb 
at Fort Edward to send reinforcements from the four 
thousand troops under his command. 

But Webb gave no sign. Every day made the 
situation worse, as Montcalm was advancing by 
parallels, until they were extended even into the gar- 
den adjoining the fort. Repeated calls for assistance 



134 Investment of Fort 

from Webb met with no response, until it was plain 
that Montcalm, notwithstanding the strenuous re- 
sistance of Colonel Munro, held the fort completely 
at his mercy. At length Montcalm had all of his 
large cannons in position, and at sunrise, August 
5th, opened fire on the fort, which replied with spirit. 
" The cannons thundered all day, and from a hun- 
dred peaks and crags the astonished wilderness roared 
back the sound." The Indians were delighted with 
the uproar, and lay behind logs and fallen trees, 
yelling and dancing when they saw the splinters fly 
from the wooden ramparts. 

At this time Munro received a communication from 
General Webb informing him that he could not send 
reinforcements and advising him to make the best 
terms possible with Montcalm. Still the battle raged 
and the besieged fought with the courage of despair. 
Their condition was now deplorable. More than 
three hundred of them had been killed and wounded; 
small-pox was raging in the fort, and the casemates 
were crowded with the sick. A sortie from the en- 
trenched camp and another from the fort had been 
repulsed with loss. All of the large cannons and 
mortars had been burst or disabled by shot, only seven 
small pieces were left fit for service, and the whole 
of Montcalm's thirty-one guns and fifteen mortars 
would soon open fire, while the walls were already 
breached and an assault was imminent. Through the 
night of the 8th, the fort fired briskly from all its 
remaining small pieces, but the morning found the 
M'hite flag raised above the rampart and officers of 



Investment of Fort 135 

both armies in consultation in the tent of General 
Montcalm, and soon it was known that terms of ca- 
pitulation had been signed. It was agreed that the 
English troops should march out with all the honors 
of war, and be escorted to Fort Edward by a detach- 
ment of French troops; that they should not serve 
again for eighteen months, and that all the French 
prisoners captured in America since the war began 
should be given up within three months. The 
stores, munitions, and artillery were to be the prize 
of the French, except one field piece, which the garri- 
son should retain in recognition of their brave defence. 

Before signing the papers, Montcalm called the 
Indian chiefs in council and asked them to consent 
to the conditions, and promise to restrain their young 
warriors from any disorder. To this they assented. 
Colonel JMunro then gave orders to evacuate the fort, 
and the garrison marched out to join their comrades 
in the entrenched camp (now known as the ruins of 
old Fort George) on the road to Fort Edward. 

No sooner were they gone, than a crowd of Indians 
clambered into the casemates in search of rum and 
plunder, and butchered all the sick men lying there. 
The missionary Roubaud says, " I saw one of these 
savages come out of the casemate with a human head 
in his hand from which the blood ran in streams." 
There was but little plunder left in the fort, and the 
Indians and the more lawless of the Canadians hur- 
ried to the entrenched camp where all the English 
were collected. 

The inadequate French guard could not, or would 



136 Surrender 

not, keep out the rabble, and Montcalm advised the 
English to stave in their rum-barrels, but the In- 
dians, consumed with the lust for human butchery, 
roamed among the tents, the glitter of their vicious 
eyes telling of the devil within. Grinning like 
fiends, they handled the hair of the women, in anti- 
cipation of the use of the scalping knife, while the 
children were crazed with fright. The presence of 
]\Iontcalm and other French officers, who used 
prayers and threats, prevented any atrocities being 
committed that afternoon, although the Indians ob- 
tained many articles of plunder. At last toward 
evening order seemed restored, and four hundred 
French soldiers were ordered to guard the fugitives 
the next morning, on their march to Fort Edward. 
(The whole of the French regulars would not have 
been too many to protect them.) 

The English having passed a sleepless night hur- 
riedly started at daj^break, before their guard of 
French soldiers made their appearance. They had 
muskets but no ammunition, and but a few had bay- 
onets. But the Indians were on the alert. Seven- 
teen wounded men of Colonel Frye's regiment lay 
in huts unable to march. As soon as the movement 
began, the Indians rushed into the huts, dragged 
them out, and tomahawked and scalped them all. 

A scene of plundering then began. The escort 
had by this time arrived, but when the Indians de- 
manded the baggage of the English, the French 
soldiers not only failed to protect them, but advised 
them to give it up. The savages demanded rum, and 



Massacre 137 

some of the soldiers, afraid to refuse, gave it to them 
from their canteens, thus adding fuel to the flames. 
When after much difficulty the column at last got 
out of camp, the Indians crowded upon them, 
snatched capes, coats, and weapons from the men 
and officers, tomahawked those who resisted, and, 
seizing shrieking women and children, dragged them 
off and murdered them on the spot. 

Suddenly there arose the screech of the war-whoop. 
At this signal of butchery, a mob of savages rushed 
upon the rear of the column, and, amid ferocious 
war-whoops and the anguished shrieks of the doomed 
fugitives, killed eighty of them. Many were seized 
and dragged away prisoners. Montcalm, hastening 
from camp at the sound of the tumult, took a young 
English officer from an Indian, whereupon several 
others tomahawked their prisoners lest they too should 
be taken from them. 

The English seemed paralyzed and fortunatelj^ did 
not attempt resistance, which, out of ammunition as 
they were, would have ended in a general massacre. 

The broken column struggled forward in wild dis- 
order amid yells and shrieks, till they reached the 
French advance guard, which consisted of Cana- 
dians; and here they demanded protection of the 
officers, who refused to give it, telling them to take 
to the woods and shift for themselves. Colonel Frye, 
one of the English officers, was seized by a number 
of Indians who, with spears and tomahawks, threat- 
ened him with death, and stripped him of his clothing 
except his breeches and shoes, in which condition he 



138 Massacre 

leaped upon an Indian who stood in his way, dis- 
armed and killed him, and then escaped to the woods. 
Jonathan Carver, a provincial volunteer, declares that 
when the tumult was at its height, he saw officers of 
tte French army walking about unconcernedly, a 
short distance away. Three or four Indians seized 
him, brandished their tomahawks over his head, and 
tore off most of his clothing, while he vainly claimed 
protection from a French sentinel, who called him 
an English dog and thrust him back among his tor- 
mentors. Two of the Indians dragged him towards 
a neighboring swamp, when an English officer, 
stripped to his scarlet breeches, ran by. One of Car- 
ver's captors sprang upon him but was thrown to 
the ground, whereupon the other went to the aid of 
his comrade and drove his tomahawk in the back of 
the Englishman. A lad twelve j^ears old ran by, 
but was seized and killed. Carver, however, escaped 
to the woods, and after three days of famine reached 
Fort Edward. 

How many Englishmen were killed it is impossible 
to say with exactness. But not more than four hun- 
dred of the garrison arrived at Fort Edward, at the 
close of that dreadful day. Hundreds were carried 
away prisoners, while six or seven hundred were 
stripped of their clothing, and more or less injured. 
Husbands were torn from their wives, and children 
from their mothers, many were killed, and others, 
maltreated and disabled, were left in the forests, while 
more than a hundred were butchered at the first 
onslaught. 



Destruction of Fort William Henry 139 

After the frenzy of the Indians had exhausted it- 
self, the French collected all the refugees and prison- 
ers that were redeemed from the savages, and 
conducted them to Fort George at the entrenched 
camp, where food and shelter were provided for them, 
and a strong guard protected them until August 15th, 
when they were escorted to Fort Edward. 

On the day after the massacre, the Indians set out 
in a body for ^Montreal, cariying their plunder and 
about two hundred prisoners. The demolishing of 
the English fort occupied several days. The bar- 
racks were torn down, and the pine logs of the ram- 
parts were thrown in a heap; the dead bodies that 
filled the casemates were added to the pile, and the 
whole set on fire. Parkman says : " The mighty 
funeral pyre blazed all night. Then on the 16th 
the French army re-embarked. The din of ten thou- 
sand combatants, the rage, the terror, the agony 
were gone; and no living thing was left but the 
wolves that gathered from the mountains to feast on 
the dead." 

In 1756-57 the Earl of Loudoun was commander- 
in-chief of the British forces in America, but seems to 
have been incompetent, and was soon recalled, leaving 
Major- General Abercrombie in command of the 
army. Of Major-General Loudoun, Franklin is re- 
ported to have said, " He is like little St. George on 
the sign-board, always on horseback but never going 
forward." 

Close upon the fall of Fort William Henry came 
disquieting rumors of disaster running like wildfire 



I40 Sir William Johnson 

through the colonies. The numher and ferocity of 
the enemy were grossly exaggerated, and alarm was 
felt that Albany, and even New York, were in danger 
of attack, and it was reported that Webb at Fort 
Edward was in favor of retreating to the highlands 
of the Hudson. It is said that when too late for the 
succor of Fort WilHam Henry thousands of militia 
came pouring in from the neighboring province, and 
Johnson with a band of Mohawks, declaring that 
they were ready to fight but not to lie still without 
tents, blankets, or kettles. Forays, however, were 
made by the rangers. Most of these forays were suc- 
cessful in a small way, and kept the French at Ticon- 
deroga on the alert, within their fortifications. At 
this period Major Robert Rogers was a picturesque 
personage and with his rangers assisted materially 
in keeping alive a strenuous war spirit in the vicinity 
of the lakes. 

From W. L. Stone's Life of Sir William Johnson 
we gather additional information of the siege of Fort 
William Henry. 

" The Baronet was at Fort Johnson holding a con- 
ference with the Cherokee Indians, when he received 
the news of the investment of Fort William Henry 
by Montcalm. He at once collected what militia and 
Indians he could muster, and arrived at Fort Ed- 
ward two days after. Seeing at once the position 
of affairs, he begged that he might be sent to the 
aid of Colonel Munro. After repeated solicitations 
his request was granted, but scarcely was he on his 
way, with Putnam's rangers and some provincials who 



Sir William Johnson 141 

had volunteered to share the danger, when Webb 
ordered him and his detachment back, and sent in its 
place a letter advising Munro to surrender." 

Augustus C. Buell says: 

" Two days after the formal investment, Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson joined Webb from Albany with nearly 
two thousand provincials and five hundred or six 
hundred Iroquois Indians. He asked Webb to give 
him another thousand men and let him march at 
once to the relief of INIunro. 

" Webb at first assented, but, when Johnson's head 
of column had got about four miles from Fort Ed- 
ward, peremptorily recalled him, saying JNIontcalm 
was too strong for him and expressing fear that 
Johnson would share the fate of Braddock. 

" In vain Sir William assured him that his scouts, 
both Indians and Stark's rangers, had informed him 
that the French force did not exceed six thousand 
men. Webb was firm and would not let them go. 
Irresolute in everything else, he could be firm 
only in his poltroonery and consistent only in his 
cowardice." 



CHAPTER X 

GENERAL ABERCROMBIE's ATTACK ON FORT TICONDE- 

ROGA, 1758 GENERAL SIR J. AMHERST's 

CAMPAIGN, 1759 

THE following account of General Abercrombie's 
attack on Fort Ticonderoga, from James 
Macauley's History of New York (New York, 1829) , 
may be of interest to the reader: 

" The expedition against Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point was conducted by Abercrombie in person. In 
the beginning of July he embarked his forces, amount- 
ing to nearly seven thousand regulars and ten thou- 
sand provincials, on Lake George, on board of nine 
hundred bateaux, and one hundred and thirty-five 
whale-boats, with provisions, artillery, and ammuni- 
tion. Several pieces of cannon were mounted on 
rafts, to cover the proposed landing at the outlet of 
the lake. Early the next morning he reached the 
landing place, which w^as in a cove on the west side 
of the lake near its issue, leading to the advanced 
guard of the enemy, composed of one battalion, in a 
logged camp. 

" He immediately debarked his forces and, after 
having formed them into three columns, marched to the 

enemy's advanced post, which was abandoned with 

142 



Fort Ticonderoga 143 

precipitation. He continued his march with the army 
towards Ticonderoga, with the intention of investing 
it; but the route lying through a thick wood that 
did not admit of any regular progressions, and the 
guides proving extremely ignorant, the troops were 
bewildered, and the columns broken by falling in 
one on another. 

" Lord Howe, being advanced at the head of the 
right centre column, encountered a French detach- 
ment, that had likewise lost its way in the retreat from 
the advanced post, and a warm skirmish ensuing, the 
enemy were routed with considerable loss; and one 
hundred and forty-eight were taken prisoners. This 
advantage was purchased at a dear rate. Lord 
Howe, and one other officer, besides privates, were 
killed. The former is spoken of in very high terms 
for his braver}^ 

" Abercrombie, perceiving the troops were greatly 
fatigued and disordered, deemed it advisable to fall 
back to the landing place. Then he detached Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Bradstreet, with a detachment, to take 
possession of a saw-mill in the vicinity of Ticonde- 
roga, which the enemy had abandoned. This post 
being secured, Abercrombie advanced again towards 
Ticonderoga, where, he understood from the prison- 
ers, the enemy had assembled eight battalions, with 
a body of Canadians and Indians, amounting in all 
to six thousand men. The actual number, however, 
was considerably less, not exceeding four thousand 
men, as was afterward ascertained. These, they said, 
being encamped before the fort, were employed making 



144 Second Day's Battle 

a formidable entrenchment, where they intended to 
wait for a reinforcement of three thousand men, 
who had been detached, under the coimnand of M. de 
Levi, to make a diversion on the side of the Mohawk ; 
but upon intelligence of Abercrombie's approach, 
were now recalled for the defence of Ticonderoga. 

" This information induced Abercrombie to strike, 
if possible, some decisive blow before the junction 
could be effected. He therefore early next morning 
sent his engineer to reconnoitre the enemy's entrench- 
ments; and he, upon his return, reported that the 
works, being still unfinished, might be attempted with 
good prospect of success. A disposition was made 
accordingly for the attack, and after proper guards 
had been left at the saw-mill and the landing place, 
the whole army was put in motion. The troops 
advanced with great alacrity towards the entrench- 
ments, which, however, they found altogether im- 
practicable. The breastwork was raised eight feet 
high and the ground before it covered with an abatis, 
or felled trees, with their boughs pointing outward, 
and projecting in such a manner as to render the 
entrenchment almost inaccessible. 

" Notwithstanding these discouraging difficulties, 
the troops marched up to the assault with an un- 
daunted resolution, and sustained a terrible fire. They 
endeavored to force their way through these em- 
barrassments, and some of them even mounted the 
parapet; but the enemy were so well covered, and 
defended their works with so much gallantry, not- 
withstanding their greatly inferior numbers, that no 



Defeat of Abercrombie 145 

impression could be made; the carnage became fear- 
fully great, and the assailants began to fall into great 
confusion, after several attacks, which lasted several 
hours. Abercrombie by this time saw plainly that 
no hope of success remained; and in order to prevent 
a total defeat, sounded a retreat, leaving about two 
thousand men on the field. 

" Every corj)s of the army behaved, on this un- 
fortunate day, with remarkable intrepidity ; the great- 
est loss sustained among the corps, was that of the 
regiment of Lord John Murray." 

The demoralization of this body of fifteen thousand 
British regulars, heroes of many battles, has no 
parallel in modern history and could have happened 
in no other country ; a body of veterans stampeded by 
the blood-curdling war-cry of half a hundred In- 
dians. But Braddock's defeat and almost total an- 
nihilation at Fort Duquesne a few months before had 
been recounted with ghastly embellishment and ex- 
aggerated accounts of Indian atrocities, and it was 
the unknown that stampeded this bewildered army 
lost in the forest. All formation had been lost, each 
man went for himself, impelled by his own petty fears 
of the tomahawk and scalping knife. The fear that 
each individual felt that he was to experience the 
gruesome horrors of an Indian ambuscade, sent the 
regulars scurrying through the forests, they knew 
not where. 

" The rashness of Abercrombie before the fight was 
matched by his poltroonery after it," says Parkman. 



146 Defeat of Abercrombie 

" Such was his terror that on the evening of hi5» de- 
feat he sent an order to Colonel Cummings, tum- 
manding at Fort William Henry, to send all the 
sick and wounded and all the heavy artillery to New 
York without delay." 

Colonel Williams sends the miserable story to his 
uncle Israel, which ends as follows: 

" I have told the facts; you may put the epithets 
upon them. In one word, what with fatigue, want 
of sleep, exercise of mind, and leaving the place we 
went to capture, the best part of the army is un- 
hinged. I have told you enough to make you sick, 
if the relation acts on you as the facts on me." 

A story is told of a provincial soldier named Wil- 
liam Smith, who fought his way through the obstruct- 
ing abatis close under the breastworks, where 
unnoticed he shot several Frenchmen. Being at 
length observed, a French soldier shot vertically down 
from the top of a wall, wounding him severely but 
not enough to prevent him from springing up to 
the wall and braining one of his assailants with his 
hatchet. A British officer observing the act and 
struck with the reckless daring of the man sent two 
regulars to bring him off, a thing which they suc- 
ceeded in doing in spite of a brisk fire of musketry. 
He recovered from his wounds in due course but spent 
most of the time during his convalescence in raging 
and in swearing at the Frenchman who had shot him. 

With the loss of two thousand men and the demor- 
alization of the General and his army the return up 
the lakes was the opposite to the joyous, gallant array 



Rage of the Black Watch 147 

witnessed only three days previous. No trumpet, 
bagpipe, or drum awaked the echoes on that early 
morning. 

The Black Watch, some raging, swearing, tearful, 
others lying in the listlessness of exhaustion, were all 
disordered, dishevelled, dejected, their flesh and 
garments torn and bloody. 

Thus these disheartened troops sailed up the lake, 
passed the site of Fort William Henry still onward 
until General " Nabbycrombie " (as the soldiers 
called him) reached Albany. From this point the 
soldiers were distributed along the Mohawk Valley. 
It would seem that the only sensible thing the General 
did in this campaign was to order a fort built on the 
Mohawk at Rome ; this was accomplished by General 
Stanwix on his return from Oswego and named Fort 
Stanwix. This fort was renamed Fort Schuyler dur- 
ing the War of the Revolution, and played a very 
vital part in defeating what is called Burgoyne's plan 
of campaign. Its stern resistance, and the courage 
of the patriots of the valley at the gruesome battle of 
Oriskany, turned back St. Leger's army and broke 
the cordon drawn around northern New York by 
General Burgoyne. 

General Sir Jeffrey Amherst's campaign, 1759, 
need not take up much space, as we do not intend to 
follow him beyond the Richelieu River. 

He was born in 1717 and became ensign in 1731. 
In 1756 he was promoted to Major-General and given 
the command of the expedition against Louisburg in 



148 General Amherst's Campaign 

1758. In September after the disastrous defeat of 
General Abercrombie he was appointed commander- 
in-chief in America, and in June, 1759, he led the 
grand central advance against Ticonderoga, Crown 
Point, and JMontreal. 

It is said that Amherst never was long in one place 
without building a fort, and when his army of eleven 
thousand men halted at the head of Lake George on the 
site of Fort William Henry, he began a very needless 
fortification, which was never finished, and called it 
Fort George. 

The army embarked on Lake George on the 21st 
of July and again the old mountains looked down 
on an ahnost endless procession of boats and bateaux, 
laden with red-coated soldiers and with provincials in 
more sober attire, who were accompanied by musicians 
playing on drums and trumpets, and with artillery 
and baggage. 

At daylight the next morning they landed with little 
or no resistance. They occupied the high ground and 
advanced to the famous line of entrenchments which 
the soldiers of Abercrombie so vainly stormed the 
year before. It is said that the French commander 
had a force but a little less than that of Montcalm, 
while the British army had about five thousand men 
less than that of 1758. 

The works of Fort Ticonderoga had been partly 
reconstructed, but the fort lacked the fearful abatis. 

Approaches with artillery were made in due form, 
but on the 23d it was found that Bourlamaque, 
the French commander, had retired down Lake 



General Amherst's Campaign 149 

Champlain, leaving only a nominal force to keep 
up an appearance of resistance. They kept up a 
brisk fire, but on the 26th, in obedience to the 
instructions to the French commander, they evac- 
uated the fort. About eleven o'clock that night the 
fort was blown up and later it was found that the 
balance of the garrison had retired. The fort was 
but little injured as only one bastion was destroj-ed 
by the explosion. 

August 1st it was found that the French troops 
had also evacuated Crown Point and had retired to 
the Isle-aux-Noix, at the outlet of Lake Champlain; 
and this ended the occupation of the Champlain 
Valley by France after a century and a half of war- 
fare and atrocities committed by their barbarous 
allies. 

The next year Amherst proceeded down the St. 
Lawrence, took Montreal, and completed the conquest 
of New France. 



CHAPTER XI 



LORD HOWE 



TN nearly every account of the death of Lord George 
■'■ Augustus Howe I have found extracts from Mrs. 
Grant of Laggan's Memoirs of an American Lady, 
and in reading this book, I have been charmed with 
her descriptions of places and events, which seemed 
to have been written by an eye-witness, and I have 
wondered why she had not given us more of the par- 
ticulars of the death and burial of Lord Howe. 

It is true that she tells us of his character, his mode 
of life, and of some innovations which he introduced 
among the soldiers under his immediate care, such as 
cutting off their hair, and the abbreviation of some of 
their costume and accoutrements, while on the march. 

Either ]\Irs. Grant must have been exceedingly 
precocious or had a most wonderful memory, as we 
are told that she was born in 1755, and at the time 
of the battle of Ticonderoga, in 1758, was only three 
years old, and that it was not until 1762, when she 
was only seven years old, that she met Mrs. Schuyler 
of Albany. She returned to Scotland with her fam- 
ily in 1768, at the age of thirteen years, and her 
memoirs were not written until nearly half a century 
later (1807). 

150 



Lord Howe 151 

However, she certainly absorbed a wonderful 
amount of information from her friend Mrs. Schuyler, 
as her book is filled with good and valuable material, 
particularly her description of Albany and the man- 
ners and customs of the good Dutch people of early 
date. 

Having learned the above facts recently, I am not 
at all surprised to find no mention made of the man- 
ner of the death of Lord Howe, or any particulars 
of his burial. 

O'Callaghan gives the following: " George Au- 
gustus Lord Viscount Howe, eldest son of Sir E. 
Scrope, second Lord Viscount Howe, in the peerage 
of Ireland, was born in 1725 and succeeded to the 
title on the death of his father in 1735. In the fore- 
part of 1757 he was ordered to America, being the 
Colonel commanding the 60th, or Royal Americans, 
and arrived at Halifax in July following. On Sep- 
tember 28, 1757, he was appointed Colonel of the 
55th foot, and on December 29th, Brigadier-General 
in America. In the next year, when Abercrombie 
was chosen to proceed against Ticonderoga, Pitt 
selected Lord Howe to be " the soul of the enter- 
prise." On the 8th of July, 1758, he landed with 
the army at Howe's Point, at the outlet of Lake 
George, and commenced to march along the west road 
for Ticonderoga, in command of the right centre. 
They had proceeded about two miles, with an ad- 
vanced party of rangers under Lord Howe, when 
they came upon a party of Frenchmen who had lost 
their way. A skirmish ensued in which his lordship. 



152 Lord Howe 

" foremost fighting, fell," and expired immediately. 
" In him," said JNIante, " the soul of the army seemed 
to expire. By his military talents and many virtues 
he had acquired esteem and affection." Howe's 
corpse was escorted to Albany for interment by 
Philip Schuyler, a young hero of native growth after- 
wards a general in the Revolution, and was buried in 
St. Peter's Church. Massachusetts erected a monu- 
ment in Westminster Abbey, at an expense of £250. 
Lord Howe was a member of Parliament for 
Nottingham at the time of his decease. 

Lord Howe was the eldest of three brothers. His 
brothers were Richard, who became Vice- Admiral in 
1778, and General Sir William Howe, who was com- 
mander-in-chief of the British forces in America from 
1775 to May, 1778. 

I have frequently passed up and down Lake 
George on midsummer days in sunshine and in storm, 
and the beauty of that little " Lake of the Moun- 
tains " has overwhelmed me, with the charm of its 
quiet waters and the majesty of its mountains, which 
are brought almost in touch of the observer on every 
side. No brawling stream or quiet river contributing 
to its source is visible. No hum of industrial power, 
no clang of hammer on steel, all is quiet, except the 
swish of the water at the bow of the steamer, and 
the slow measured beat of the engine. Even the 
passengers converse in low quiet tones, as though im- 
bued with the peace and majesty of the scene. I have 
tried to reproduce, in imagination, the scene on that 
beautiful morning in July, 1758, when Abercrombie's 



The Charm of Lake George 1 53 

army passed down the lake, fifteen thousand strong, 
to meet defeat at Ticonderoga. The bustle of em- 
barkation is hushed, and the whole army is afloat. 
Never before had those quiet mountains looked down 
on such a scene, and never again will such an array 
of power and splendor be possible as long as time 
endures. The largest army ever gathered together 
in America was passing in review: nine hundred 
bateaux, a hundred and thirty-five whale-boats, and 
a large number of heavy flat-boats, carrying artillery ; 
the whole advancing in three divisions, the provincials 
in front and rear, with the regulars in the centre, each 
corps with its flag and music. 

When the}'' entered the Narrows, about ten o'clock, 
they extended back toward the south in long files, 
covering the whole surface of the w^aters for six 
miles, a mass of color that made the lake look like 
a tropical garden in bloom: the red of the British 
soldiers, the green and blue of the tartans, the olives 
of buckskin tunics of the rangers, and the subdued 
colors of the provincials, the innumerable flags with 
the red cross of England, the glitter of bayonets, the 
flash of steel, the bared heads and brown arms of a 
thousand oarsmen, parks of artillery, and anon 
glimpses of the blue waters of the lake. The tower- 
ing heights of sombre green and the cliffs of gray 
cast shadows varying the color scheme, as Shelving 
Rock, Tongue Mountain, Buck Mountain, and Black 
Mountain drew close on their narrow way, while the 
bugle, the trumpet, the bagpipe, the drum were an- 
swered and prolonged by a hundred woodland echoes. 



154 The Mountains 

We will pass over the landing of the troops at 
Sabbath-day Point, the re-embarkation the next 
morning, and the narrowing of the waters under the 
shadow of the famous Rogers Rock, and the final 
landing at the mouth of the lake. Soon the fifteen 
thousand soldiers were in advance through the woods 
on Fort Ticonderoga, divided into four columns, with 
Lord Howe in command of the van. With him 
went the rangers, and his friends Bradstreet, Put- 
nam, Rogers, and Stark. The forest was extremely 
dense and heavj^ and the guides were following an 
Indian trail. The ranks were soon broken and the 
guides became bewildered; in this confusion the 
different columns mixed with each other, and the army 
became lost in the forest. 

On account of this deplorable situation, Putnam 
with two hundred rangers was sent in advance to 
find a way, if possible, out of the maze, Lord Howe 
and his column following. Putnam, seeing Lord 
Howe in the van, said to him, " Keep back, my Lord, 
keep back, you are the idol and soul of the army, 
and my life is worth but little." " Putnam," said 
Howe, " your life is as dear to you as mine is to me. 
I am determined to follow with you." At this time 
an advance party of French and Indians had been 
recalled to the fort, and they also became bewildered 
and suddenly were aware that there was another body 
of troops in the forest. Instantly they fired, and the 
Indians raised a thrilling war-whoop, which put a 
finishing touch to the terror of the regulars. At the 
volley from the French battalion in the bushes, Lord 



Death of Lord Howe 155 

Howe fell, dead. The rangers, however, stood their 
ground, saving the day. A sharp advance on the 
French detachment resulted in victory. One hun- 
dred and forty-eight prisoners were taken, and the 
balance, about fifty, were either killed or drowned in 
the stream in an effort to escape. 

Nothing, however, was able to stop the bewildered, 
panic-stricken regulars, who wandered on through 
the woods towards the lake for hours, and it was 
early morning before all of the stragglers found their 
way to the landing at the foot of the lake, some hat- 
less, others coatless, without shoes and muskets. 

A day was passed in sleep and rest, and reorgani- 
zation of the different corps. 

The day following found the esprit de corps of the 
army restored, and the soldiers ready and anxious 
to retrieve themselves from the folly of that disgrace- 
ful day. Particularly was that the case with the 
Black Watch, who, although they lost not their for- 
mation, stumbled along in the wake of the fugitives, 
growling, and cursing in rage. The thought that 
the heroes of a hundred battles should have been 
stampeded and helpless in that cursed forest, made 
them fighting-mad. 

And then the day after how they distinguished 
themselves in the charges on that almost impenetrable 
abatis, how they charged over and against the sharp- 
ened branches of that prostrate forest, again and 
again, how at times they " could not go forward, and 
would not go back," was made manifest the next 
morning at roll-call where, out of a total force of 



156 Death of Lord Howe 

eleven hundred, 306 men and 7 officers were killed 
and 316 men and 17 officers wounded, and among the 
mortally wounded was Major Duncan Campbell of 
Inverawe. 

It is said that when the bateaux and boats of the 
army made their way up the lake, a barge led the way 
bearing the bodies of Lord George Augustus Howe, 
and Major Duncan Campbell, Inverawe. 

Tlie Church Book of St. Peter s Church, Albany, 
contains the following extract: 

" In the death of Lord Howe, who fell at the first 
assault, the British army lost its vital principle — the 
controlling and guiding spirit of its success. The next 
day a single barge retraced the track of the flotilla 
bearing the body of a young lord. Captain Philip 
Schuyler, just entering on a distinguished career, es- 
corted the remains with tenderness and reverence due 
the illustrious dead; the body was conveyed to Al- 
bany, and buried in St. Peter's Church, which stood 
in the middle of State Street. His obsequies were 
performed with pomp. Heraldic insignia marked 
the location of the grave." 

Forty-four years after, in the process of demolish- 
ing the old church edifice, the grave of Lord Howe 
was exposed. A double coffin was revealed, the 
outer of pine, the inner of mahoganj'^: the latter was 
almost entire ; in a few spots it was decayed and some 
earth had found its way inside. 

" When the lid was uncovered, the remains ap- 
peared to be enclosed in a rich damask cerement, in 
which they were enshrouded when buried. The teeth 




(V 
fciD 

O 
0; 

C' 

a 






o 

o 






The Grave of Lord Howe 157 

were bright and perfect and the hair stiff with the 
dressing of those days, the queue entire, the ribbon 
and brace apparently new and jet black. All on the 
exposure sunk into dust and the relics of the illus- 
trious dead were conveyed to the common charnel 
house and mingled with other dead bodies." 

The clergy of St. Peter's saj^: 

" There is abundant evidence that the body of Lord 
Howe, who was killed in a skirmish at Trout Brook, 
on July 6, 1758, is interred beneath the pavement of 
the vestibule of the present St. Peter's. 

" The burial register which covers the date of the 
death of Lord Howe is unfortunately lost, but among 
the old registers and account books preserved in the 
vault of St. Peter's Church there is a book of treas- 
urer's accounts, bearing the title. Church hook began 
15th Apnl 1718. This book contains the following 
entry, verbatim et literatim: 

" * Sept. 5th To cash Rt. for ground to lay the body 
of Lord Howe & Pall, £5. 6. 0.' " 

The above statements have been accepted as his- 
tory, although almost forgotten, perhaps because the 
early Americans cared little for a lord or lady, duke 
or duchess, but a storj^ of research during the last 
two decades has aroused increasing interest in the 
fate of Lord George Augustus Howe. The story is 
as follows: 

" On the 3d of October, 1889, a workman, Peter 
Duchane, while engaged with others in digging a 
trench, close by the door-yard fence of JNIr. E. M. 
Giiford, four feet or more under the ground, came 



158 The Grave of Lord Howe 

upon a decayed piece of board; still digging he lifted 
out a large stone close against the board, then a human 
skull, then other bones of a human skeleton but so 
old and decayed that in exhuming them from the 
stiff clay they were considerably broken. The teeth 
were those of a young man, and round and white as 
to the crown. The top of the coffin had fallen in. 
The sides, head, and bottom were there, but so rotten 
that it fell to pieces with a slight pressure. The 
wood was thought to be pine reduced to about half 
an inch in thickness. 

" The locality is the same rising ground we have 
mentioned. [The rising ground is the slope of the 
hill where the present academy and union school is 
located at Ticonderoga.] The ground has never be- 
fore been disturbed to any depth within the memory of 
the oldest inhabitants. The highwaj^ on the side of 
which the remains were found, has been where it 
now runs for more than ninety years. No burial 
ground was ever within a mile of the spot and 
there is no tradition or knowledge of any burial 
there. 

" Interest was at once aroused. The stone was 
examined. It was a hard limestone about ten inches 
long by six or seven inches wide, flat on one side and 
oval on the other, weighing twenty or twenty-five 
pounds. It was encrusted with clay. In con- 
sequence of a letter or character being partly visible 
it was carefully washed, and to the surprise of every- 
body an inscription in capital letters was found cut 
in the hard surface in four parallel lines across the 



Lord Howe 159 

stone, the letters being two thirds of an inch high and 
wide, thus: 



*' ' MEM OF LO HOW^E KILLED TROUT BROOK.' 



" The letters were apparently pricked with a bay- 
onet or other sharp instrument. It was found evi- 
dently standing upright against the head of the 
coffin. A fragment of brass button, also several nails 
— old-fashioned hand-made nails, such as are found 
in the fort — were found but nothing more." 

The writer of the article from which I have quoted 
has gathered together a mass of negative testimony. 
" Non sequitur," although at times one would say 
" thou almost persuadest me." 

He speaks of the sum of money contributed by 
the Province of Massachusetts (250 pounds) to be 
paid to the order of the present Lord Viscount Howe 
for " the erection of a monument to his Lordship's 
memory — to be situated in such a place as the present 
Lord Viscount Howe shall choose." 

Allow me to paraphrase the following paragraph: 

" And yet in view of all these facts regarding the 
greatness of the man, his honorable reputation, the 
love of his friends and comrades, his illustrious an- 
cestry, we are required to believe that while West- 
minster Abbey was deemed honored in containing his 
remains they wTre at that time lying unhonored, 
although known to the rustics of the vicinity, where 
he fell, in the forest near Trout Brook, for a century 
and a half" 



i6o Lord Howe 

In that skirmish but two officers and five men were 
killed. The rangers knew that Lord Howe was 
killed. Putnam was in touch with him w^hen he was 
shot. Is it conceivable that Bradstreet, Stark, Put- 
nam, Rogers, Captain Schuyler, General Abercrom- 
bie, and in fact the whole army w^ould have forgotten 
him as soon as his heart ceased to beat, and left his 
body to the brutes of the forest, animal or human? 

The rangers were victorious, the French battalion 
was practically destroyed, they held the battle-field, 
they retired deliberately: is it conceivable, I say, that 
his comrades did not search for and remove the body 
of their honored friend? 

If his grave was there and known, why did not 
Amherst know and why did he not have the body 
removed from the lonely grave? It will be remem- 
bered that the next year, 1759. the British dominated 
Lake Champlain and Lake George and that the 
French soldiers never returned. 



CHAPTER XII 

STORY OF MAJOR DUNCAN CAMPBELL (iNVERAWE) — 

THE BLACK WATCH, FORTY-SECOND ROYAL 

HIGHLAND REGIMENT 

\\T^ have passed the age of superstition, the age 
^ ^ of gruesome visions, except those of dis- 
ordered minds, but I will venture to say that many 
readers of this narrative could recount instances of 
a premonition or second sight that has clung to them 
through all of their lives. Dean Stanley and others 
have told the story of the visions and death of Dun- 
can Campbell, the Chief of Inverawe, the incidents 
of which occurred in 1742 and 1758. 

On the western shore of Scotland where the " sea 
is all islands and the land all lakes," in the country 
commonly called Argyleshire, dwelt the Stewarts of 
Appin. To the east and to the west is a tract of 
land abounding in lochs and hills and vales over which 
towers the majestic peak of Ben Cruachan. Through 
one of the vales runs the river Deergan, " the river 
of the red stain," at the mouth of which are a number 
of large boulders which are called the stepping stones. 
This place is also known as the Murderer's Pass. The 
second of the stepping stones is the place where 
Donald Campbell was murdered by Stewart of 

II i6i 



1 62 Inverawe 

Appin, near which and under the shadow of Ben 
Criiachan stood an old castle, dark and grim — the 
home of Duncan Campbell — laird of Inverawe. 

When we read INIacaulay's history, or better still 
Sir Walter Scott's Tales of a Grandfather, we are 
apt to imagine that the feuds of the Scottish clans 
and the various raids of the Iroquois bear a striking 
similarity in fierce animosity and tragic ending. 

It seems that in 1742, Duncan Campbell (In- 
verawe) , an officer in the famous Highland regiment 
known as the Black Watch, when sent on an expedi- 
tion against the adiierents of Prince Charley, lost 
his way in returning. Straying into a ravine, he 
found himself confronted by a stalwart Highlander 
with black hair and piercing eyes. Each grasped 
his belted claymore and stood on the defensive w^hile 
the stranger demanded his errand. Duncan Camp- 
bell replied that he had lost his w^ay and required a 
guide. A voice from the darkness said, " He is alone, 
suffer him to pass," whereupon his guide, who was 
Donald Campbell, but unknow^n to Duncan, con- 
ducted him to an unknown camp in the deep recesses 
of the mountains, gave him food, shared his couch 
with him, and in the morning, escorting him beyond 
the sentinels, set him on the road to his own home. 
Inverawe expressed his gratitude and vowed he would 
repay the kindness if an opportunity offered. 

INI any years after, when the incident was well-nigh 
forgotten, Inverawe was sitting in his castle chamber 
w^hen he was startled by the sound of hasty footsteps 
accompanied by loud and hurried rappings. An 



Inverawe 163 

entertainment had been given at the castle; the party 
had broken up and Inverawe was alone. Answering 
the summons he was surprised at the appearance of 
one of his guests at his gate, Stewart of Appin, with 
torn and blood-stained garments and dishevelled hair, 
demanding admission. " I have killed a man and I 
am pursued bj^^ enemies, I beseech you to let me in. 
Swear bj'^ your dirk — upon the cruachan, or hip where 
your dirk rests — swear by Ben Cruachan — that you 
will not betray me." Campbell swore and placed the 
fugitive in a secret place in the castle. 

Presently there was a second knocking at the gate. 

It was a party of his guests, who said, *' Your 
cousin, Donald, has been killed; where is the mur- 
derer?" At this announcement Campbell, remember- 
ing the great oath he had sworn, gave an evasive 
answer, and sent off the pursuers in a wrong direction. 
At the same time came to his mind the promise he 
had given to Donald many years ago. But there was 
his oath to protect the man who had killed him. 

He went to the fugitive and said, " You have killed 
my cousin Donald, I cannot keep you here." The 
murderer appealed to his oaths and persuaded Camp- 
bell to let him stay for the night. Campbell or In- 
veraw^e, as he was sometimes called, did so and retired 
to rest. 

In the visions of that night, Donald Campbell ap- 
peared to him, his clansman, with these words: " In- 
verawe, Inverawe, blood has been shed, shield not 
the murderer." In the morning Inverawe went to 
his guest, and told him that he could no longer give 



1 64 In vera we 

him shelter. He took him, however, to a cave in Ben 
Cruachan and there left him. 

The night again closed in, and Campbell again 
slept, and again Donald, his murdered clansman, with 
black hair dishevelled, his clothing disarranged and 
soiled with blood, appeared before him and said, 
" Inverawe, Inverawe, blood has been shed, shield not 
the murderer." 

In the morning Inverawe went to the cave in the 
mountain — Ben Cruachan — and the murderer had 
fled. And again at midnight, as he sat by his fire 
reading, as was his custom before retiring, his hound, 
his sole companion, began to tremble in every limb, and 
finalty to howl in a low, dismal tone. Raising his eyes 
he saw the ghostly form of Donald Campbell standing 
before him in ghostly radiance with the same blood- 
stained garments and dishevelled appearance. With 
hands outstretched as if beseeching aid he said, " In- 
verawe, Inverawe, blood has been shed, blood must 
atone for blood. We shall not meet again until we 
meet at Ticonderoga." He awoke in the morning 
and behold it was a dream. 

In 1758, many years afterward, the conflict that is 
called the " Last French and Indian War " broke 
out. The English Government, finding that the pro- 
vincials were unable to cope with the situation, sent 
over a large body of British troops, under General 
Abercrombie, to capture Fort Carillon, as it was called 
by the French, but afterwards called Fort Ticonde- 
roga. This latter name was unknown to Scotland, 
and Duncan Campbell as he sailed Lake George with 



Death of Inverawe 165 

his command, the " Black Watch," did not know 
that the fortress they were bound for was ever called 
Ticonderoga. 

General Abercrombie, on the eve of the attack, 
came to the officers and said, " We had not better 
let Campbell know the name of the fortress we are 
to attack to-morrow. It is Ticonderoga. Let us 
call it Fort George." The assault took place in the 
morning. Campbell was mortally wounded. He 
sent for the General. These were his last words: 
*' General, you have deceived me; I have seen him 
again. This is Ticonderoga." 

The story of the death of Duncan Campbell, as 
told above, has been vouched for by Dean Stanley and 
Benson J. Lossing, and been verified in every par- 
ticular, except the weird dreams and visions, by this 
inscription on an antique brown stone slab in the 
cemetery at Fort Edward, in close proximity to one 
of plain white marble bearing the name of the un- 
fortunate Jane McCrea: 

" Here lies the body of Duncan Campbell, of In- 
verawe, Esq., Major to the old Highland regiment 
[the Black Watch], aged 55 years, who died the 17th 
of July, 1758, of the wounds he received in the attack 
of the intrenchments of Ticonderoga or Carillon, 8th 
July, 1758." 

It will be noticed by the two dates given that 
he lived nine days after receiving his mortal 
wound. 

In order to commemorate that terrible but abortive 
charge in which Campbell lost his life, the officers of 



1 66 Black Watch 

the Black AVatch regiment have placed a tablet on 
the historical building at Ticonderoga: 

" To commemorate the heroic gallantry of the 
Forty-second Royal Highland regiment at the storm- 
ing of Fort Ticonderoga 8th July, 1758, on which 
day out of a total strength of eleven hundred the 
regiment suffered the following casualties: 7 officers 
and 306 rank and file killed; 17 officers and 316 rank 
and file wounded. This tablet is erected by officers 
of the regiment, a.d. 1906." 

The history of this celebrated regiment is as 
follows : 

In 1729 the Government entertained the idea of 
making use of the Highlanders as a means of protect- 
ing the country which was then in an unsettled state, 
and to this end six companies were formed: three 
companies consisted of one hundred men each and 
the other three of seventy-five men each. The first 
three companies were commanded by Lord Lovat, Sir 
Duncan Campbell of Lochnell, and Colonel Grant 
of Ballindalloch; the three smaller companies, by Col- 
onel Alexander Campbell of Finab, John Campbell of 
Carrick, and George Munro of Culcairn as captain- 
lieutenants. To distinguish them from royal troops 
they wore tartans of a dark color, from which they 
derived the name of the " Black Watch." The men 
were all of respectable families, many of them being 
sons of gentlemen. Their duties consisted in carry- 
ing out the Disarming Act and preventing depreda- 
tions; for this purpose they were quartered in small 



Black Watch 167 

detachments in various parts of the country, chiefly 
in the more troubled districts of the Highlands, where 
the Jacobite clans of Cameron, Stuart, MacDonald, 
and Murray rendered their presence necessary to 
prevent a sudden rising, the various companies act- 
ing independently of each other. In 1740 the Gov- 
ernment determined to add to their number, which 
was raised to one thousand men, who mustered for 
the first time, near Taybridge, Perthshire. 

Up to this period each company was dressed in 
tartans selected by its commander, but as the com- 
panies were now to form one regiment, it was neces- 
sary to have a uniform dress. The first colonel, Lord 
Crawford, being a Lowlander, and having no tartan 
of his own, a new tartan different from any other 
was manufactured for the whole regiment. This 
ultimately became the well-known Forty-second or 
Black Watch; the tartan is composed of various 
shades of black, green, and blue. 

From the color of the uniform of the regular troops, 
they were called red soldiers (Saighdearan Dearg) ; 
the Highlanders from their sombre dress, the Black 
Watch (Freiceadan Dubh). Mr. Cameron in his 
Military History, in writing of this regiment, thus 
eulogizes the Highland soldiers : " The Highland- 
ers of Scotland have been conspicuous for the pos- 
session of eveiy military virtue which adorns the 
character of the hero who has adopted the profession 
of arms. Naturally patient and brave, and inured 
to hardships in their youth in the hilly districts of 
a northern climate, these warlike mountaineers have 



1 68 Black Watch 

always proved themselves a race of lion-like cham- 
pions, valiant in the field, faithful, constant, generous 
in the hour of victory, and endued with calm perse- 
verance under trial and disaster." The Black Watch, 
since its formation, has taken a brilliant part in nearly 
every war its country has been engaged in, and has 
fought with honor in every quarter of the globe. 
The more important engagements include Egypt, 
Corunna, Fuentes d'Onor, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, 
Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula, Waterloo, Alma, Sevas- 
topol, Lucknow, Ashanti, Egypt 1882-84, Tel-el- 
Kebir, Nile 1884-85, Kirbekan. On its colors it 
bears the names of " Pyrenees, Nile, Nive, Orthes, 
Toulouse, and Peninsula." 



CHAPTER XIII 

AEENAKIS— ST. FRANCIS INDIANS RALE ROUBAUD 

CAPTAIN ROBERT ROGERS 

IX a letter written by Father Loyard, a Jesuit priest, 
in 1722, he says: 

" Of all the savages of New France those who have 
rendered, and are in condition to render us the great- 
est services, are the Abenaquis. This nation is com- 
posed of five villages, which in all make five hundred 
men bearing arms. 

" Two of these villages are situated along the St. 
Lawrence near Three Rivers, one below the town 
called Becancour, and the other above called the vil- 
lage of St. Francis. The three other villages are in 
the region of Acadia [Maine] and are called after 
the Abenakis name of the river on which they are 
situated, the Kenebec, Penobskot, and St. John." 

This was thought to be very important, as by pad- 
dling up or down the rivers upon which the five vil- 
lages are situated, they could reach the river St. 
Lawrence, or penetrate into the country of their 
English enemies. 

The Abenakis were the neighbors of the Acadians 
at Grand Pre, the home of Longfellow's Evangeline. 

From their homes on the rivers of Maine, they laid 

169 



170 St. Francis Indians 

waste the New England villages, committed atrocious 
murders, and returned home with many scalps. They 
were the first to come under the control of the French 
priests, first the Recollets, and afterwards the Jesuits. 
But it was the Jesuits Biard and ]Masse who first 
established among them the new French colony at 
JNIt. Desert Island, as early as 1613, which settlement 
was soon destroyed by the Virginian Argall. 

The mission on the Kennebec, afterwards called 
Norridgewock, under Father Sebastian Rale, was 
very successful, and under the leadership of this Jesuit 
priest inflicted great and gruesome damage to the 
young New England settlements until, in 1724, the 
settlers arose in their might, destroyed the village, 
burnt their church, and killed Rale and many of the 
Abenakis. 

Somewhat later the French withdrew the mission 
and Indians to St. Francis on the St. Lawrence where 
they were known, in the later wars, as the St. Francis 
Indians. 

You will remember the story of Whittier's Mogg 
Megone, and the killing of Father Sebastian Rale 
(sometimes spelled Rasles). Parkman says: 

" When the British returned from driving the fugi- 
tives into the river, they found the Jesuit Rale in one 
of the houses, firing upon some of their comrades 
who had not joined in the pursuit of the fleeing In- 
dians. He presently wounded one of them, where- 
upon Lieutenant Benjamin Jaques burst open the 
door of the house, and, as he declared, found the priest 
loading his gun for another shot. The Lieutenant 



The Killing of Rale 171 

called on him to surrender, when Rale replied that ' he 
would neither give quarter nor take it,' upon which 
Jaques shot him through the head." 

During the campaigns of 1755-63 the Praying In- 
dians of St. Francis were exceedinglj^ active, not only 
in the massacre of lone settlers, but in open warfare. 
They were with Dieskau at Lake George, Montcalm 
at Fort William Henry, and in scouting parties con- 
nected with the operations around Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point, in 1758-59. 

They had become the scourge of the New England 
borders, where they surprised and burned farmhouses 
and small hamlets, killed men, women, and children 
without distinction, carried others prisoners to their 
village, subjected them to the torture of " running 
the gauntlet," and compelled them to witness dances 
around the scalps of their relatives and friends. 

My first introduction to Lake George was on a 
beautiful day in July when its environment was all 
peace and beauty, its crystal waters blue and pellucid 
and sparkling like diamonds under the midsummer 
sun ; not a suggestion of strife of men in battle array, 
not a sound to remind one of the stealthy Indian scout 
or barbarous blood-curdling yell; and I wondered if 
the mountain peaks were not, even yet, throwing back 
to each other the thrilling war-whoops, in echoes faint 
as a zephyr, as though from their majestic height they 
still beheld the birchen canoe, the naked flesh of the 
savage, and the scarlet coats of civilization, battling 
for supremacy. 



1/2 



Major Robert Rogers 



In all of this quietude I seemed, in reverie, to see 
bands of rangers clothed in fringed buckskin of the 
color of sere autumn leaves, darting here and there 
with marvellous celerity, in boats and on the trail, al- 
ways alert, fearlessly searching for danger, with Major 
Robert Rogers leading them. In reading his journal, 
one comes to the conclusion that during the period 
of the last French and Indian War (1755-1760), 
his time was wholly spent between Fort Edward and 
Crown Point Fortress on Lake Champlain, sometimes 
alone in a birchen canoe, and again in whale-boat 
and bateaux with companions in battle array, or 
treading noiselessly through the forests on either side 
of the lake. We hear of the rangers in the winter on 
snow-shoes, toiling noiselessly over the untrodden 
snow, or darting along on skates over the smooth 
ice, always armed, always alert for the dusky warriors. 

I try to imagine what kind of men Rogers and his 
followers were. That they were hardy and brave 
and well versed in woodcraft, we know because we 
have been told. At this period the northern country 
w^as practically a wilderness, with half -cleared farms 
scattered here and there, with log huts and barns built 
to repel incursions of Indians from Canada. At the 
period of which I am writing, the very children were 
familiar with the shedding of blood, and the tales that 
were told and retold at night by the flickering blaze 
of huge logs in the spacious fireplaces w^re tales 
of massacre, scalpings, and mutilations. In such en- 
vironment the backwoodsmen were trained from youth 
for retaliation and reprisal, holding the value of hu- 



Van Wormer's Conversion 173 

man life lightly and the killing of an Indian an act 
of justice. 

We have no body of men with like morals or con- 
ception of right and wrong in our country now, but 
I can imagine the lumbermen of the north described 
by Stewart Edward White, in his Blazed Trails would 
compare favorably with the Rogers rangers of 
1755-60. 

A story is told by Dr. Holden, of the man for 
whom Van Wormer's Bay on Lake George was 
named, which illustrates my meaning. 

Jacob Van Wormer after the Revolutionary War 
experienced religion, as it is called, and at a meeting 
where public confession was asked for from the con- 
verts he acknowledged to having killed three more 
men than circumstances would justify. He is said 
to have been a stalwart, symmetrical man of gigantic 
proportions. Before going into the battle of Bunker 
Hill he made himself a long-handled tomahawk, and 
to quote his own confession: " I struck to der right, 
und I struck to der left, und I killed my twenties, 
und dat vas all right ; put von poor fellow drew down 
his arms, un cried for gwarter; but I was so mat mit 
fighten' that I kills him, und dat was murder. Und 
after dat I kills a man down der Hudson River, und 
dat vas murder; und ven Burgoyne mit his army 
crossed der river at Fort Miller, I shoots a Britisher 
dat vas in shwimmin in der river; und dat vas mur- 
der; und dat vas all dat I murdered, — der rest vos 
killed in fair fight." 

It is said that after the battle at Ticonderoga of 



174 Robert Rogers 

July 8, 1758, Rogers and some of the rangers went 
back to bring off some prisoners who were wounded, 
but finding them unable to walk, he killed them all. 
Perhaps it was merciful, in a wa}^ but it was not 
humane. 

However, the following extract from Johnson's 
MSS. shows Sir William Johnson's opinion of Cap- 
tain Rogers: 

" Camp at Lake George, Oct. 29, 1755. 

"The accounts brought by Captain Rogers concern- 
ing the enemy at Ticonderoga, differing somewhat 
from that obtained through other sources, led Sir 
William Johnson, in writing to Sir Charles Hard}', to 
explain the situation, and in referring to Rogers's 
account, speak of him ' as one whose bravery and 
sagacity stand very clear in my opinion, and of all 
who knew him. Though his regiment is gone, he 
remains here a volunteer, and is the most active man 
in our army.' " 

The follow ing order from General Johnson to Cap- 
tain Rogers will give an idea of the work the rangers 
were expected to do: 

They w-ere to proceed from Albany in four whale- 
boats to Lake George; and, "from time to time, 
to use your best endeavors to distress the French 
and their allies (Indians) by sacking, burning, and 
destroying their houses, barns, barracks, canoes, 
bateaux, etc., and by killing their cattle of every kind; 
and at all times to endeavor to wa^day, attack, and 
destroy their convoys of provisions by land and water, 
in any part of the country where you can find them." 



Robert Rogers 175 

Extract from order to INIajor Rogers from General 
Amherst ; 

" Remember the barbarities that have been com- 
mitted by the enemy's Indian scoundrels on every 
occasion where they have an opportunity of showing 
their infamous cruelties on the King's subjects, which 
they have done without mercy. Take your revenge, 
but don't forget that those villains have dastardly 
and promiscuously murdered the women and children 
of all ages ; it is my orders that no women or children 
are kiUed or hurt. 

" Yours, 

" General Jeff. Amherst." 

A foot-note by Rogers says: 

" That this expedition might be carried on with 
the utmost secrecy — it was put into public orders that 
I was to march a different way, at the same time 
I had private instructions to proceed directly to 
St. Francis." Dated, Crown Point, September 13, 
1759. 

Rogers and his men set out in whale-boats up the 
Hudson and Lake George, and on the tenth day after 
leaving Albany, reached the north end of Lake 
Champlain, where he hid his boats, leaving them in 
charge of two friendly Indians, who were instructed 
to inform Rogers if they were discovered by the 
enemy. On the second day the Indians overtook him 
with the information that a party of four hundred 
French had found the boats, and that half of that 
number were on his track in hot pursuit. Much of 
the way to the Indian town was through dense spruce 



176 Destruction of the St. Francis Indians 

swamps and tangled forest lands, but after arduous 
toil and many sleepless nights, they emerged from 
the forests onto the St. Lawrence within fifteen miles 
of the village of St. Francis. Still continuing on 
until about three miles from the town, he left his 
hundred and forty men to rest for a time, and 
with two companions went to reconnoitre the place. 
Rogers, disguised in Indian dress, entered the vil- 
lage alone and watched the Indians in full enjoyment 
of a savage dance. Returning to his command about 
two o'clock, he formed his men in a circle and at 
three o'clock burst upon the unconscious villagers. 
Many warriors were absent, some were killed on their 
couches asleep, others were shot down trying to 
escape. 

Rogers reports: 

" About seven o'clock in the morning the affair 
was completely over, in which time we killed at least 
two hundred Indians and captured twenty of their 
women, fifteen of whom I let go. I also released 
five English prisoners. 

" A little after sunrise I set fire to all of their 
houses except three which were filled with corn. The 
fire consumed many of the Indians who had hid them- 
selves in the cellars and lofts of their houses. Six 
of our men were slightly wounded and one Stock- 
bridge Indian killed. English scalps by hundreds 
were hanging from poles in front of their houses 
(some say from six to seven hundred) . Their church 
was also destroyed with all of its glittering para- 
phernalia. A large silver image, two hundred 



Destruction of the St. Francis Indians 177 

guineas in money, and a large amount of booty 
carried away." 

Learning from the prisoners that two bodies of 
French and Indians were in the vicinity, one of three 
hundred and the other two hundred and fifteen, they 
lost no time in plunging into the wilderness south- 
ward, in the direction of Lake Memphremagog and 
the Connecticut River. After untold hardships from 
fatigue, hunger, and the killing and capture of fifty 
of the rangers bj^ pursuing bands of Indians, they at 
last reached Charlestown, the first English settlement ; 
the expedition having been practically destroyed. 

In the winter of 1759-60, and in the spring also, 
Rogers went to Canada with General Amherst, and 
after the capitulation was sent to Detroit and other 
posts on the lakes, to receive their surrender to the 
English. 

Although usually successful in his scouting ex- 
peditions, and of great value to the English army, 
there was one expedition of Captain Rogers which 
ended in disastrous defeat, not on account of lack 
of skill and bravery or courage (for the words are 
not always synonj^mous) but from the overwhelming 
number of the enemy. 

Let me give it to you as recorded by Doctor 
Holden: 

" On the 10th of March, 1758, by the order of 
Colonel Haviland, then in command at Fort Edward, 
Captain Rogers, accompanied with thirteen officers, 
part of whom were volunteers from the regular 
army, with one hundred and sixty-two privates. 



178 Roger's Escapes 

proceeded in the direction of Ticonderoga on a re- 
connoitring expedition. The enemy who, unfortu- 
nately, had been advised of this expedition, which they 
had been led to believe consisted of four hundred men, 
took measures to ambush and cut off their retreat." 

The second night's encampment was on the east 
side of Lake George, near the Narrows. During 
their progress down the lake, their movements were 
narrowly watched by a body of the enemy seven hun- 
dred strong, on the west side of the lake, in order 
to intercept and cut off their retreat. " On the morn- 
ing of the thirteenth a council of officers of the 
rangers determined that the best course was to 
proceed by land upon snow-shoes, lest the enemy 
should discover the party on the lake. Accordingly 
the march was continued on the west shore, an army 
on snow-shoes, along the back of the mountain which 
overlooked the French advance guard, and the party 
halted two miles west of them, when they refreshed 
themselves until three o'clock." A mile and a half 
farther on, the advance guard of about one hundred 
Indians w^as encountered and driven back on the main 
body, under the command of Sieur de la Durantaye, 
when the rangers, being completely outflanked and 
greatly outnumbered, were routed and defeated with 
great slaughter, the French account claiming " that 
they brought back one hundred and fortj^-six scalps 
and retained only three prisoners to furnish ' living 
letters to their father.' The French loss was reported 
at twenty-seven killed and wounded. Rogers's force, 
dispersed and scattered through the woods, sought 



Rogers's Rock 179 

safety in flight. As snow-shoes constituted a part of 
the rangers' outfit, they became an important agency 
in the escape of the survivors. It is the memorable 
events connected with this affair that has made 
Rogers's Rock an object of interest to tourists, and a 
landmark of history. The fugitives were met near 
the Narrows, on their retreat, by Captain John Stark 
with timely reinforcements and a supply of blankets, 
sleighs, and provisions. 

One of the most picturesque and interesting of the 
many delightful spots on Lake George is the highland 
near the end of the lake. For a number of miles be- 
fore reaching this spot, the mountains and hills have 
receded from the shore, giving a glimpse of fair fields 
and w^oods, but as we draw near the end of the lake. 
Bald Mountain or Rogers's Rock on the west shore 
rears its ponderous bulk of granite to an almost per- 
pendicular height of eleven hundred feet, being 
matched by a similar bulk and height on the east a 
half-mile away. Here, on the west side, we see the 
famous Rogers's Slide, entirely destitute of verdure. 

We do not need to be told — \ve know it, for have 
we not seen its picture, and have we not heard its 
story a hundred times? — how Captain Rogers and 
his small army on snow-shoes were defeated by a 
large body of Indians and French; how the small 
remnant was scattered through the forests at the top 
of the mountain; how a party of Indians were track- 
ing the marks of the snow-shoes of the fugitives, and 
how Rogers became aware that he was likely to be 
driven over the precipice ; how he made his way direct 



i8o Rogers's Slide 

to the brink, threw his pack and accoutrements down 
the slide to the lake; and how he turned his snow- 
shoes around and, after stealing along the edge of 
the hill, made his way down to the lake, picked up 
his pack, changed his snow-shoes, and sped south- 
ward to the Narrows, where he was met by Captain 
Stark with reinforcements and provisions. 

Then we are told that the Indians followed Rogers's 
tracks to the brink, where, seemingly, were two tracks 
to the precipice; they concluded that two white men 
had slid down to the ice below ; and while gazing they 
saw, a mile away, the form of Rogers; but consider- 
ing him under the special protection of the Great 
Spirit they made no further pursuit. 

In 1766 Rogers was appointed by the British Gov- 
ernment commandant of the post of Michilimackinac. 

Sir William Johnson writes to General Gage as 
follows : 

" He [Major Rogers] was a soldier of my army 
in 1755, and as we were in great want of active men 
at that time, his readiness recommended him so far 
that I made him an officer, and got him continued 
in the Ranging service, where he soon became puffed 
up with pride and folly, from the extravagant enco- 
miums and notices of some of the provinces. This 
spoiled a good Ranger, for he was fit for nothing 
else, neither has nature calculated him for a large 
command. 

" He has neither understanding or principles. I 
am astonished that the Government should have 
thought of such an employment for him, but since it 



Robert Rogers i8i 

is so, I am of the opinion he should be tied up in such 
a manner as to prevent him from doing mischief." 

Subsequent events proved General Sir William 
Johnson's opinion of the man to be correct. Let me 
sketch briefly a cyclopedic account of his life after 
the capitulation. 

Robert Rogers was born in Dunbarton, New 
Hampshire, in 1727. Serious charges of mismanage- 
ment were brought against him while in command 
at Michilimackinac and he was seized and sent in irons 
to Montreal, to be tried on a charge of a design to 
plunder the fort and join the French; was acquitted, 
and went to England; was presented to the King, 
and soon after was imprisoned for debt. Return- 
ing to America during the Revolution, he raised a 
company of Tories known as the " Queen's Own 
Rangers," a body of four hundred men, for local active 
service. However, they met with disastrous defeat 
from a body of American troops; eighty men were 
killed or captured, but Rogers escaped. Shortly 
after, Lieutenant Simcoe succeeded to the command 
of the Queen's Own, and we hear no more of Rogers's 
military career. He died in England, 1800. 

" Virtuous and vicious every man must be, 
Few in the extreme but all in a degree," 



but 



" There is so much good in the worst of us 
And there is so much bad in the best of us 
That it won't do for any of us 
To talk about the rest of us." 



CHAPTER XIV 

MAJOR-GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM 

GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM, who through 
a regular gradation of promotion became sen- 
ior major-general of the army of the United States, 
and next in rank to General Washington, was born 
at Salem in the province of Massachusetts, on the 
17th day of January, 1718. 

His father, Captain Joseph Putnam, was the son 
of Mr. John Putnam, who with two brothers came 
from the south of England, and was among the 
first settlers of Salem. A perusal of Humphrey's 
Life of General Israel Putnam ^ published in 1788, and 
the very excellent work on the same theme by William 
Farrand Livingston (1905) reveals the fact that the 
life of that Avonderful man cannot be told in the few 
pages allotted to the subject in this book. But it is 
quite evident that many of the stirring scenes of his 
active life were enacted in the vicinity of Lake 
George-Champlain, in his early manhood, and there- 
fore deserve special mention. 

His biographers record the fact that his early 
education did not exceed that of the farmers' boys 
in the vicinity of Salem and that on account of pov- 
erty and danger he did not have all of the advantages 

of his comrades. 

182 



Major-General Israel Putnam 183 

Reading, writing, and arithmetic comprised the ex- 
tent of his education at school, and his letters would 
indicate that he did not excel in orthography or 
penmanship. 

But his real education was begun and acquired in 
the stirring scenes of the French and Indian wars, 
and the War of Revolution, in which, as Major- 
General, he held a position next in rank to that of 
the Commander-in-chief of the American Army, 
General Washington. 

We are first introduced to him in his boyhood days 
as a fighter in Boston, where a city boy of twice his 
size insulted young Putnam by calling him a " coun- 
try-buck " and laughing at his rusticity. 

After enduring the sarcasms until his patience was 
exhausted, he challenged the city boy, and gave him a 
good thrashing to the great diversion of the spectators. 

Before he attained his twenty-first year, he married 
Miss Hannah Pope. The young husband took his 
eighteen-year-old wife to his farm and the house he 
had recently built, and there began housekeeping. 

This sketch would not be complete if I did not 
include in it the story of the " Wolf's Den." 

Putnam's early life was not without privation and 
disasters. He had been living on his farm about 
two years, suffering occasionally drought in summer, 
loss of cattle in winter, and the desolation of his 
sheep-fold by wolves. One night he lost seventy 
sheep and goats, and found many lambs and kids 
wounded. The havoc was committed by a she- 
wolf and her annual whelps, who had, for several 



184 Major-General Israel Putnam 

years, infested the vicinity. The hunters managed 
to kill the whelps, but the she-wolf was a wily old 
beast, and, although frequently seen and pursued, 
generally fled into the western forest, and escaped 
for the season only to return the following winter 
with another litter of whelps. She seemed to have 
as many lives as a " loup-garou," w^ho could not be 
killed, except by an arrow dipped in " holy water." 

This wolf at length became such an intolerable 
nuisance that a combination of five Pomfret farmers 
was formed, to hunt continuously in pairs, until the 
wolf was destroyed. It was known that she had lost 
some of the toes of one foot in a trap. 

The track followed by Putnam and his companion 
led to the Connecticut River, where it turned back 
in a direct course to Pomfret. 

A light snow had fallen, and the course of the 
animal was easily traced because the track showed 
one foot shorter than the others. This was proof 
that the animal they were following was the she-wolf 
which had eluded them so long, and by ten o'clock 
the next morning, the bloodhounds had driven her 
into a den, about three miles distant from the house 
of Mr. Putnam. 

The people soon collected with dogs, guns, straw, 
fire, and sulphur to attack the common enemy. With 
these various articles, several unsuccessful efforts were 
made to force her from the den. (It is said that 
John Stark, then seventeen years old, was the first 
one to locate the cavern.) 

A whole day was spent by Putnam and his neigh- 



Wolf's Den 185 

bors in attempting to dislodge the animal. Dogs 
ventured in, but they hastily returned frightened and 
wounded, and would not go in again. 

Wearied by such fruitless attempts (which brought 
the time to ten o'clock at night) Mr. Putnam tried 
again to make his dogs enter, but in vain; he pro- 
posed to his negro man to go down into the cavern and 
shoot the wolf, but he would not go. It was then that 
Putnam declared he would go himself. His neigh- 
bors strongly remonstrated, but he, knowing that wild 
beasts were intimidated by fire, prepared a torch of 
birch-bark, and, having divested himself of his coat and 
waist-coat, he prepared to descend into the cavern. A 
long rope was fastened around his legs that he might 
be drawn back quickly, if circumstances should re- 
quire a hurried exit, at a concerted signal. Thus 
prepared he entered the wolf's den head-first, and 
with the blazing torch in his hand. 

The aperture of the den, on the east side of a 
very high ledge of rocks, is about two feet square; 
from thence it descends obliquely about fifteen 
feet, then running horizontally ten feet more and 
again changing its course, it ascends gradually 
sixteen feet more toward the termination of the 
cavern. The sides, top, and bottom are of smooth 
stone, and the first descent, in winter covered with 
ice, is exceedingly slippery. At no place is the 
den high enough for a man to stand erect, nor in 
any part more than three feet wide. 

Cautiously groping down the first incline, with 
his torch lighting up only a small circle in front of 



i86 Major-General Israel Putnam 

him, he peered with keen eyes into the impenetrable 
darkness beyond. But not an object could he see, 
except the stone walls on each side, and not a sound 
could he hear except his own heavy breathing. 

Slowly he worked his way onward on his hands and 
knees, until he reached the ascent, anxious yet fear- 
ful to discover the ferocious beast. At last he saw 
the eyes of the wolf, glaring red in the torch light, 
as she crouched at the extreme end of the cavern, 
uttering a fearful howl full of menace, as she gnashed 
her teeth at the blazing torch. Startled at the sight 
of the threatening beast, in such close proximity, he 
kicked the rope as signal for pulling him out. 

The people at the mouth of the den hearing the 
growling of the wolf, and thinking that their friend 
was being attacked, drew him forth with such celer- 
ity, that his shirt was stripped over his head and his 
skin severely scratched. 

Adjusting his clothes and loading his gun with 
nine buck-shot, and holding the torch in one hand 
and the musket in the other, he descended again into 
the cavern. When he drew nearer than before, he 
found the beast fiercer and more threatening than 
ever, snapping her teeth, and crouching ready to 
spring on the daring hunter. At this moment 
Putnam levelled his gun and fired at her head. 

Stunned by the noise of the explosion, and suf- 
focated with the dense smoke, he found himself im- 
mediately drawn from the cave. Having refreshed 
himself and permitted the smoke to disappear out of 
the den, he went down the third time. Once more 



Prosperity 187 

he came in sight of the wolf, who appeared very pas- 
sive, and when, upon applying the torch to her nose, 
he discovered that she was dead, he took hold of her 
hy the ears, and again kicking the rope was exultingly 
drawn from the cave with the wolf. It was a jolly 
party of neighbors that followed the slain wolf to 
Putnam's home by the light of torches, "where a 
midnight wolf jubilee was held," whatever that may 
mean. 

At this period Putnam was about twenty-five years 
old. 

Humphrey records: 

" Prosperity, at length, began to attend the agri- 
cultural affairs of Israel Putnam. He was acknow- 
ledged to be a skilful and able manager. 

" His fields were mostly enclosed with stone walls. 
His crops commonly succeeded, because the land was 
well tilled and fertilized. His pastures and meadows 
became luxuriant, his cattle of the best breed and in 
good order, his garden and fruit trees prolific. 

" The wolf episode won for him at once a local 
reputation for bravery, and the sobriquet of ' Old 
Wolf Putnam ' during his military career." 

At the beginning of the last French and Indian 
War (1755) Putnam was thirty-seven years old, when 
he became a hunter of men instead of a hunter of 
wolves, and at the outbreak of the war he became, 
very early, intimately connected with Captain Robert 
Rogers, and the Rogers's rangers, which seems to 
have been composed of Indian-fighters and Indian- 
haters, and became invaluable to the British from 



i88 Major-General Israel Putnam 

the first expedition of General Sir William John- 
son, 1755. Putnam did yeoman's service during the 
battle of Lake George, and the subsequent engage- 
ments in the vicinity of Fort Ticonderoga. 

After the disastrous attempt to capture the fort 
in July, 1758, the rangers were kept very active 
in every direction, for General Abercrombie was con- 
tinually in fear of a descent upon him by Montcalm. 
Two or three of his convoys of supplies having been 
cut off by French scouting parties, he sent out 
Majors Rogers and Putnam to intercept them. 

Apprised of this movement, Montcalm sent Mo- 
lang, an officer well versed in the wiles of border- 
warfare, with five hundred men to waylay the 
English rangers. (Some writers say that the leader 
of the French scouting party was M. Marin.) 
While marching through the forest (August, 1758) 
in three divisions, within a mile of Fort Ann, the 
left, led by Putnam, fell into an ambuscade of In- 
dians, who attacked the English furiously, making 
the forest echo with their hideous yells. On account 
of the dense underbrush, the order of the detach- 
ments, which had come up the night before, was some- 
what changed, and Putnam's party marched in front, 
that of Captain Dalzell in the centre, and Rogers's 
in the rear. At the moment of moving, INIajor Put- 
nam was just emerging from the thicket into the 
common forest, when the attack on his division began. 
Surprised but undismayed, Putnam halted, returned 
the fire, and passed the word for the other divisions 
to advance for his support. Dalzell came. The action, 



Ambuscade 189 

though widely scattered and principally between man 
and man, soon grew general and intensely fierce. 
Putnam's biographer laconically says, " Rogers came 
not up," but, as he declared afterwards, formed a 
circular file between Putnam's party and Wood 
Creek, to prevent their being attacked in the rear or 
enfiladed. Successful as he commonly was, Rogers's 
conduct did not always pass without unfavorable im- 
putation. Notwithstanding the fact that it was a 
current saying in camp that " Rogers always sent, 
but Putnam led his men to action," yet in justice 
it ought to be remarked here, that the latter has never 
been known, in relating the story of that day's dis- 
aster, to afiix any stigma to the conduct of Rogers. 

Major Putnam, perceiving it would be imprac- 
ticable to cross Wood Creek, determined to maintain 
his ground. Inspired by his example, the officers and 
men fought collectively in open view, and sometimes 
individually under cover ; taking aim behind trees and 
acting independently of each other. Meanwhile a 
large and powerful Indian chief of the Praying In- 
dians, from the mission of the Sault called Caughna- 
waga, had sprung upon the brave leader in front. 
In the fierce hand-to-hand fight, Putnam pressed the 
muzzle of his gun against his assailant's breast, but 
the weapon missed fire. With a loud war-whoop, the 
savage sprang forward with his uplifted hatchet, com- 
pelling him to surrender, and having disarmed him, 
bound him fast to a tree, and then returned and 
fought on. 

Somewhat dismayed by the loss of their leader, the 



I go Major-General Israel Putnam 

rangers gave ground for a short distance, but en- 
couraged bj" the advance of Dalzell they returned to 
the fight with increasing fury. 

The shifting of the battle had left the tree to which 
Putnam was tied directly between the fires of the 
combatants. " The balls flew incessantly from either 
side, many struck the tree, while some passed through 
the sleeves and skirts of his coat." At the moment 
w^hen the battle swerved in favor of the enemy, a 
young savage found Putnam bound to the tree and 
amused himself by hurling his tomahawk as near his 
head as possible, without touching him, the weapon 
striking the tree a number of times at a hair's breadth 
from his head. When the savage had ceased his 
amusement, a French bas-officer perceiving Putnam, 
came up to him, and levelling his gun within a foot 
of his breast attempted to discharge it ; it missed fire. 
He then repeatedly pounded Putnam's ribs with the 
muzzle and finally struck him a cruel blow with the 
stock on his jaw, and left him. 

The rangers finally prevailed and drove the en- 
emy from the field, leaving about ninety dead behind 
them. As they fled, the Indian who had made Put- 
nam prisoner untied him from the tree and conducted 
him some distance from the place of battle, stripped 
off his coat, waist-coat, stockings, and shoes, pin- 
ioned him strongly and loaded him wuth packs. Thus 
he was led many a weary mile in torment, with feet 
swollen and bleeding, and suffering pain from the 
tightness of his bonds. 

After a period of suffering almost insupportable, 



Prepared for Torture 191 

the Indian chief who had captured him came up, and 
discovering his condition, loosened his bonds some- 
what, and gave him a pair of moccasins for his weary, 
lacerated feet. The chief again being called away. 
Major Putnam was left with a party of two hundred 
Indians, who went before the main body to the place 
of a proposed encampment. After many other in- 
dignities, he was taken into the depth of the forest, 
stripped of his garments, bound to a tree, and in a 
small circle around him, dry brush was piled and 
set on fire. All of these preparations for torture at 
the stake by fire were accompanied by savage dances, 
songs of dirge-like character, howls, and blood- 
curdling war-whoops. A sudden shower dampened 
the fire, giving him a short respite. Again the fire 
was kindled, flickered, and blazed, soon completing 
the circle with scorching heat. Putnam shrunk from 
the blistering flames, his movements greeted by yells, 
dances, and gesticulations, but just as he was about 
to give up all hope of life, a French officer burst 
the circle of frantic Indians, scattered the firebrands, 
and unbound the victim. It was Molang, the com- 
mander of the scouting party, who treated Putnam 
kindly and finally sent him as a prisoner of war to 
Montreal. He was afterwards exchanged, and re- 
turned to take an active part in the capture of Mont- 
real, Bradstreet's western expedition, and later in the 
Continental Army. 

I wish that I might follow this noted man through 
all the interesting episodes of his strenuous life, but 
as the scope and scheme of this sketch will not permit 



192 Major-General Israel Putnam 

me to wander far from " the beautiful lakes of the 
mountains " I take the liberty to refer you to his life 
by William Farrand Livingston, a lineal descendant 
of General Israel Putnam, for interesting material. 

However, there is one episode, although intrusive, 
which cannot be passed over. I refer to the " famous 
ride at Horse-Neck." 

On the 26th of February, 1779, General Putnam 
was staying at the old Knapp Tavern, Greenwich, 
Connecticut, when he was surprised by General 
Try on with about fifteen hundred British troops, and 
narrowly escaped capture. 

The story relates that Putnam had escorted a pretty 
maiden, Mistress Bush of Cos Cob, to a dance the 
night before, and, as he did not return to the tavern 
until the small hours of the morning, he did not arise 
very early. He was shaving in the morning, his face 
covered with lather, when an American officer rode in 
and informed the General of the approach of the 
British. It is said that the General made a hurried 
departure with face still lathered, mounted his horse, 
and after looking after the safety of his small com- 
mand (a party of one hundred and fifty soldiers) , he 
turned his horse to a precipitous road, now known as 
Put's Hill, with a party of British dragoons in hot 
pursuit. Over the frozen road sped the General, 
w4iile the ring of the steel-shod hoofs marked the 
rapidly decreasing distance from his pursuers. 

At last the road made a sharp curve around a steep 
declivity, while across the brow of the hill ran a stone 
wall, with an opening to a rugged path. Leaving 



Putnam's Ride 193 

the main road, Putnam dashed straight down the de- 
divity of the precipice, which was very steep, in which 
a number of steps were cut. The men who followed 
reined up astounded at the courage of the intrepid 
rider and his sure-footed steed. Once free from the 
dangerous ledges, his horse still speeding, the General 
turned and waved his sword to his pursuers, while 
the bullets from the pistols of the pursuing dragoons 
pattered on every side and put a fresh bullet-hole in 
his hat. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE CAPTURE OF FORT TICONDEROGA BY CAPTAIN 
ETHAN ALLEN 

(Chapters XV and XVI are taken from "TJie Green 

Mountain Boys" by Judge Daniel Pierce 

Thompson. ) 

\ 
'T'HE morning of the ninth of May, 1775, broke 
^ brightly upon the encampment of our troops 
at Castleton, disclosing to view, now and for the first 
time, an organized band of about three hundred as 
brave and hardy men as ever assembled for deeds 
of daring and danger. Of this number more than 
three fourths were Green Mountain Boys. The re- 
mainder were men collected from the nearest parts 
of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and led on by sev- 
eral enterprising militia officers of these colonies, who 
had actively co-operated in getting up the expedi- 
tion. A council had been held the night previous, for 
the purpose of organizing these united forces, which 
had been dropping in irregularly through the day 
and a greater part of the night, and also for making 
all other necessary arrangements to march for their 
destination on the following morning. At this coun- 
cil Ethan Allen had been unanimously appointed the 
commander-in-chief of the expedition. Colonel Eas- 

. 194 




•W# '■^'■' m 



'mW^\' ' 



: i. ^'if^^T 1^^"* — ^' 



%■ 



■iii.r.!i;i.i;:i:i... 







Green Mountain Boys 195 

ton, one of the Massachusetts officers, was placed 
second in command. And the third grade was as- 
signed to Warrington; while Selden, in making the 
subordinate appointments, was raised to the post of 
captain to supply the place left vacant by the pro- 
motion of his superior. Even our friend Pete Jones, 
though now absent, was not forgotten in the distribu- 
tion of honors, but named to take charge of the 
scouts, provided he joined the expedition. All these 
arrangements having been made the night before, as 
just stated, the troops by sunrise had breakfasted, 
and were now under arms, and undergoing a review 
preparatory to marching. All were in high spirits, 
and animated at the thought of being immediately 
led to the important object of their enterprise. Their 
gallant leader, now dressed and equipped in a manner 
appropriate to his rank, and mounted on his own 
noble charger, was riding proudly along their im- 
posing front — now pausing to give some directions 
to an officer, now to inspect the equipments of a 
company, and now backing his curvetting steed to 
take a view of the whole; while his towering form 
seemed to dilate, and rise still higher to the view, his 
bosom heave with pride, and his eyes glisten with 
delight, as they ran along the lines of his stout and 
broad-chested Green Mountain Boys, and read in 
their hardy features, lit up with enthusiasm and eager- 
ness for action in a cause which every man had made 
his own, the same high resolves, the same burning 
desires to signaHze themselves that animated his own 
bosom. 



196 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

At this moment, a stranger, who, with a single 
attendant in the capacity of a servant, had but a 
short time before arrived, came on the grounds, and 
took a conspicuous stand in front of the troops. He 
was of about the middle age, stout, well-made, and 
handsomely featured, while a Roman nose, a thin, 
curling lip, and a black flashing eye, combining to give 
his countenance a peculiarly contemptuous and even 
sinister expression, and a reckless air, denoted no ordi- 
nary degree of self-esteem, and a fiery and impetuous 
disposition. He was richly and fashionably dressed, 
and wore a sword, epaulet, and other insignia usually 
worn by field officers of the times. 

" Captain Blagden," said Selden, turning to a 
Connecticut officer near him, and pointing to the 
stranger just described, " can you inform me who 
that proud and scornful-looking fellow yonder may 
be? He belongs not to us of the Green Mountains; 
nor does he appear to have any connection with the 
troops from Massachusetts, or with those from your 
own colony; and yet his demeanor, and showy mili- 
tary appendages, would lead one to suppose that he 
came here to take conmiand of the whole of us." 

" Well, now I bethink me, sir, I remember, that 
the day I left home a townsman of mine, who had 
just returned from New Haven, reported that, when 
the news of the battle of Lexington arrived at that 
place. Captain Arnold, who is the commander of an 
independent company there, started with several other 
military men, post haste for the scene of action. And 
as he is said to be a good officer, having been a soldier 



■F'^ 
ii^ 




The Totteriuo- ^^-alls of Old Fort Amherst, Crown Point, 
Lake Champhiin. 



Arnold and Allen 197 

in the army (into which he ran away and enlisted 
in his youth), I should not be surprised to learn he 
had received a commission from the Massachusetts 
Committee of Safety. And further, as he was sta- 
tioned, while a boy-soldier, at Ticonderoga, and 
knows, doubtless, considerable of its situation, I will 
hazard a bottle with you, Captain Selden, that he 
has craved, and obtained, permission of that com- 
mittee to take charge of the troops which they 
probably heard were collecting for this expedition." 

" Aha? Colonel Allen, I imagine, will have a word 
to say to that bargain. It would fairly break his 
heart to be deprived of the chance of receiving the 
first charge of grape or canister that shall salute us 
from the wide-mouthed war-dogs of Old Ti. And 
if your surmises are correct, a collision, I fear, is 
unavoidable unless Mr. Arnold should, as I think 
he certainly ought, waive his pretentions to the 
command." 

" A collision it will be then; for Arnold, it is said, 
was never yet known to yield to anything, when his 
purposes were fixed. A more reckless dare-devil, I 
suppose, never trod the footstool. ^Vhy, sir, when 
we were but boys, I have known him spring upon 
a large water-wheel in full motion, grasp one of its 
arms, with his head towards the circumference, and 
there remain till he had been dashed through the 
black-water beneath, during forty revolutions ! I have 
known him, single handed, seize and overcome a mad 
ox, which had broken away from, and nearly killed, 
a dozen men. One or more duels he has fought 



198 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

abroad; while scores of bullies have been cudgelled 
and conquered by him about home. Indeed, if one 
half that is told of him is true, the wild bulls of 
Bashan had not a spirit more untamable, nor scarcely- 
more bodily strength to back it. 

" All that may be, sir, but those w^ho know Ethan 
Allen will laugh at the very idea of there being found 
a man in New England who can outdo him in feats 
of either strength or courage. And when they tell 
you, as they truly may, that they have seen him bite 
off the heads of board nails by dozens, — seize by his 
teeth, and throw over his head, bags containing each 
a bushel of salt, as fast as two men could bring 
them round to him, — grasp two opponents who had 
beset him, one in each hand, and lifting them clear 
off the ground, hold them out at arm's length, 
and beat them together till they cried for mercy, 
— engage alone with a York sheriff and his posse 
of six common men, rout the whole, and leave 
them sprawling on the ground — ^you will prob- 
ably allow that such a man will not be veiy likely 
to succumb to your hero. Let this Arnold but offer 
to assume the command, and, unless I am sadly mis- 
taken, you will see what kind of stuff our old Green 
jNIountain lion is made of. But see! the fellow is 
beckoning the officers to approach him. Let us move 
up to the spot, and hear what he has to offer on 
the occasion." 

Understanding and heeding the intimation of the 
stranger officer, who was indeed no other than Bene- 
dict Arnold, afterwards so infamously conspicuous 




o 



Arnold and Allen 199 

in the annals of our revolution, most of the officers, 
including Allen, who had dismounted for the pur- 
pose, immediately advanced and formed an irregular 
line before him. 

" Gentlemen," said he, with a perfectly assured and 
confident air, after waiting till all had approached 
and assumed a listening attitude, " I am personally 
unknown, I presume, to most, or all of you, but hav- 
ing been clothed with the proper authority and 
directed to proceed to this place for the purpose, I 
have the honor to announce myself to you as the com- 
mander of this expedition ; consequently it is now my 
duty to take charge of these troops." 

" Sir? " said Allen, taking a step in advance of his 
fellow-officers, placing his arms akimbo, and turning 
up his ear, as if the better to catch the words of 
the speaker, whom he eyed askance with a look of 
queerly blended doubt and scorn: " Sir? did I hear 
aright? Did you say that j^'ou thought it your duty 
to take charge of these troops ? " 

" I did, sir, and still so consider it," replied Arnold, 
rather restively. 

" Do you, indeed, sir? " rejoined Allen, with a look 
of cool derision. " Then it was altogether a mistake 
of mine in supposing that the reverse of your pro- 
position would have made out a more probable case? " 

" I know not what you mean," said Arnold, his 
voice trembling with stifled anger at the biting signifi- 
cance of the other's remark. " You may learn, how- 
ever, that I am not a person to be trifled with, sir." 

" Well, I can't pretend to say what, or who you 



200 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

are not," rei^lied Allen, waxing warm, and giving 
token of a direct onset, " but I should like to know 
who the devil you are, that come here from another 
colony to take the control of men who now own alle- 
gience to no power short of that of the God of 
Heaven? " 

" INIy name is Arnold," replied the other, biting 
his lips in suppressed rage, " and I hold a commission 
of Colonel, with the orders I named, from the Massa- 
chusetts Committee of Safety. There! examine it 
for yourselves ! " he added, pulling out a parchment, 
and disdainfully hurling it at their feet. 

The roll was instantly picked up, and attentively 
examined by several of the officers; wMe Arnold 
stood aloof in contemptuous silence, scarcely deign- 
ing to bestow a glance on the company thus engaged. 
It indeed proved, as he had stated, a colonel's com- 
mission, from the source above mentioned, enclosing 
another document, signed by the same committee, 
authorizing Arnold to raise troops in INIassachusetts, 
or elsewhere, to the number of four hundred, and 
march them for the reduction of Ticonderoga. 

"Now, sir, where is your commission? I should 
like to see it in turn," said Arnold, addressing Allen, 
and advancing with an air of triumph, as soon as 
the examination of his credentials, which he supposed 
must silence all further question of the right he had 
assumed, was completed. 

" My commission? " promptly replied Allen, by no 
means disturbed by this unexpected demand, though 
in fact he had no paper commissions to show, as the 



Arnold and Allen 201 

council appointing him had not deemed such an in- 
strument essential ; " where is my commission, do you 
ask? There, sir!" he continued, pointing to his 
troops, who, understanding Arnold's claim to take 
command of them, already began to exhibit visible 
tokens of displeasure at the thought of having their 
idolized leader superseded by a stranger, " there, sir! 
there it is, engraven on the hearts of these two hun- 
dred and thirty Green Mountain Boys ! Trace it out 
there for yourself! Read it in their eyes, in every 
lineament of their countenances! And if that is not 
enough for you, then ask them whether Ethan Allen, 
who is getting gray in their service, is to be thrust 
aside for a commander whom they have never before 
seen? " 

" Never! no, never! " fiercely burst from a hundred 
lips along the lines, while manj^ indignantly threw 
do^Mi their arms, and all, either by word, look, or 
gesture, gave unequivocal indication of their de- 
termination to allow no man to usurp the place of 
their chosen leader. 

The countenance of Arnold, with all his assurance, 
instantly fell at so decided, and, to him, so unex- 
pected a manifestation of the disposition of the 
troops, and he bit his lips in vexation and mortified 
pride at his defeat. 

At this crisis of the affair, Warrington, fearing, in 
common with the other officers, that the altercation 
might prove ruinous to the enterprise, stepped for- 
w^ard and interposed. He first, respectfully, and in 
a manner calculated to soothe the irritated feelings 



202 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

of Arnold, set forth the doubtfulness of his right, 
even under the instruction and commission he had 
received, to assume the command of troops who had 
not been enlisted by him, but who had volunteered, 
without any knowledge of him or his instructions, 
and with the implied condition that they should be 
left to the choice of their own leaders. He then ap- 
pealed to him as gentleman, a patriot, and friend to 
the common cause, whether he would do well to insist 
on his claim, since doing so, as he must see, would 
prove destructive of their expedition. This courteous 
and well-timed appeal, which opened a door by which 
Arnold might honorably retreat from his awkward 
position, seemed to produce on his mind an instanta- 
neous effect. The dark and angry frown, which had 
settled on his countenance, gave way to a bright and 
cheerful look. With one hand he instantly tore the 
epaulets from his shoulders, while, with the other, he 
drew his sword and threw it on the ground, gallantly 
exclaiming : 

" Gentlemen, I most cheerfully waive all preten- 
sions to the command, which of right, I am now con- 
vinced, belongs to the brave leader of the far-famed 
Green Mountain Boys. But as to going with you 
on this glorious enterprise, it is a privilege which, 

by , I won't relinquish! Gentlemen, will you 

furnish me with a common musket, and accept me as 
a volunteer soldier of your gallant band? " 

Allen appeared to be taken completely aback by 
this sudden declaration of Arnold. His naturally 
forgiving and noble disposition, and quick feelings. 



Arnold and Allen 203 

were instantly touched with this mark of magna- 
nimity, as unexpected to him, as it was remarkable 
in the man, being the most striking, ?nd perhaps the 
only, instance of the kind ever displayed by this 
brave, but unprincipled, officer in his whole public 
career. 

" Done like a man, by Jove! " exclaimed the chival- 
rous leader of the Green Mountain Boys, advancing 
and cordially proffering the other his hand while the 
tears of admiring and grateful emotion fairly started 
out on to his brawny cheeks. " Done like a man 
and a hero ! Here, God bless you, give us your fist ! 
Will you accept the post of my aid-de-camp, with 
the rank your commission gives you? " 

" Most cheerfully, sir," replied the flattered 
Arnold, waving his hand with easy and grateful 
courtesy. 

" Pick up your sword and badges, then, sir," re- 
sumed Allen. " Call for your horse, and we will now 
on together, like brothers, in the cause of God and 
the people. Officers and soldiers!" he continued, in 
a loud and cheering voice, that rung like a deep-toned 
trumpet far and wide over field and forest around, 
while he sprang upon his impatient charger, and 
waved his sword on high ; " prepare to march ! 
Ethan Allen still commands you. Peace is in the 
camp, the Lord on our side, and victory before us! 
Forward, march!" 

Three loud and lively cheers told the satisfaction 
of the men at this double announcement, and in an- 
other moment the whole corps, wheeling off to the 



204 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

brisk and stirring notes of shrieking fife and rat- 
tling drum, were sweeping down the road in full 
march towards the object of their destination, Fort 
Ticonderoga. 

When reaching the shore of the lake the troops 
partook of a dinner from the provisions of their packs, 
after which they were allowed an hour's rest, which 
was enlivened, as they were seated along the mossy 
banks of the gurgling rivulet, with song, tale, and 
jest, till the deep recesses of the forest rang with 
the sounds of their merriment. While the officers, 
who were seated in a group by themselves, were con- 
sulting their watches, and awaiting the moment set 
by them for resuming their march, a horseman, ap- 
proaching from the west, suddenly rode up, dis- 
mounted, and stood before them. 

"Ah! Phelps!" exclaimed Colonel Allen, spring- 
ing up and shaking the new-comer heartily by the 
hand, "is it possible? — a spy returned unhung from 
a British fort? Well, sir, what news from the camp 
of the Philistines?" 

" Alm.ost everything we could wish, gentlemen," 
replied the person addressed, a Connecticut gentle- 
man of considerable shrewdness and address, who had 
been despatched a day or two previous to go over to 
the fort, enter it on some feigned errand, and gain 
the best knowledge of its situation the circumstances 
would permit. " I have been within the fort — mostly 
over the works — stayed there last night, and came 
away unsuspected this morning." 

Phelps then proceeded to give an account of the 



Arnold and Allen 205 

manner he had effected his discoveries at the fort, 
without exciting the suspicions of the garrison rel- 
ative to the object of his visit — how, in the assumed 
character of a green country bumpkin, he made it his 
ostensible errand to see a war-cannon, and also the 
strange man who shaved other men, called a barber; 
how the soldiers laughed at his pretended ignorance, 
and the officers, coming to see the green Yankee, 
amused themselves by questioning him, and listening 
to his replies, at which they were amazingly tickled, 
and then ordered a twenty-four pounder to be fired 
for the fun of witnessing the prodigious fright into 
which the report appeared to throw him. And, 
finally, having induced him, after many entreaties, 
to permit the barber to shave him, how they all stood 
by to see the performance, laughing heartily at the 
wincing and woeful countenance he assumed, and the 
fears he pretended of having his throat cut. 

After finishing his diverting description of this part 
of his adventures, he detailed with great accuracy 
the situation of the fortress, the names and grades 
of the officers, and the number of the garrison. 

" But, gentlemen," said he, in conclusion, " there 
is one question which I will no longer delay to ask 
you. Have you made provision for boats to trans- 
port the troops across the lake? There is not a single 
craft larger than a skiff on this side, just now, within 
ten miles of the fort." 

" God forgive me the oversight ! " exclaimed Allen. 
" We must instantly set measures on foot for re- 
pairing it. Douglass — Lieutenant Douglass, step 



2o6 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

forward here a moment! What boats are there on 
this side the lake to the north of this ? " 

" An excellent scow for our purpose is owned by 
the Smiths, a few miles this side of Crown Point," 
replied the blue-eyed and broad-shouldered descend- 
ant of his Caledonian namesakes, stepping promptly 
forward, and comprehending at a glance the emer- 
gency that produced the question. 

"The Smiths? Good! They are with us, too, in 
heart, and should be also in person," rejoined the 
Colonel. " Well, their scow we must have at all 
events. And you, Douglass, are the very man to go 
and get it. Will you do it?" 

" I am the very man who is willing to try, Colonel 
Allen," answered the other. 

" And can you reach the landing against Ti with 
it by nine o'clock this evening?" 

" Hardly, I fear. It is nearly a dozen miles; but 
I '11 do my best, Colonel." 

" Go, then, as if the devil kicked you on end. The 
salvation of our project may depend upon your get- 
ting back in season. But stay ! We must have more 
boats than one. To the south, I know of none. Per- 
haps you may meet with some going up or down the 
lake, which might be pressed into the service; or, as 
the last resort, one might possibly be got away from 
Crown Point without the discovery which would en- 
danger us. Another man, however, will be wanted 
for any of these purposes, besides the oarsmen you 
will pick up on your way. And' — Jones! this way! 
Have you heard what we are at? Very well. You 




An Old Fort Amherst Doorway. 



Arnold and Allen 207 

are just the chap to go on this hap-hazard errand. 
What say you? Can you bring anything to pass if 
we send you? " 

" Why, I can't exactly say, Colonel," replied Jones, 
placing his feet astride, and looking up with one eye 
queerly cocked on his interrogator, while the other 
was tightly closed : " I ain't so much of a water- 
fowl as some; but, perhaps, I mought make fetch 
come a little." 

" Pack up then, and be off with Douglass in two 
minutes; and remember, both of you, if you fail 
us " 

"Then what?" asked Jones, suddenly stopping 
and looking back, " I don't calculate to be over- 
particular. Colonel, but if it would n't be too much 
trouble, I should like to know that, before we start." 

" You shall be doomed to sit forty days and nights 
in sack-cloth and ashes," humorously said Allen. 

" By Jonah! " exclaimed Pete, " the boats shall be 
there by the time, Colonel ! " 

While the latter part of this dialogue was going 
on, Warrington stood with his back to the company, 
with one foot on a log, busily engaged in writing 
with his pencil on a blank leaf, torn from his pocket- 
book and placed on his knee. 

"Aha! my lad," said Allen, in a playful under- 
tone, as he approached the former, and significantly 
placed one finger on his shoulder, "more faith now, 
than when we two were lying on the hay, in the 
Captain's barn, waiting for our rifles, eh? " 

" I really wish you would mind your own business. 



2o8 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

Colonel," replied Warrington, with affected anger. 

" Well, well," resumed Allen, laughing, " send it, 
my boy. Mars, they say, never prospers so well as 
when he has Cupid in his train, in any case. But 
with such a piece of God's handiwork as yours to 
incite to action — heavens! if the knights of old had 
been blest with such lady-loves, they would never have 
needed to carry half a hundred weight of old iron 
on their lubberly carcasses to make them heroes." 

Stripping off their coats to fit them for a rapid 
march, these athletic and resolute woodsmen now 
seized their rifles, took a glance at the sun for a 
hasty calculation of the bearing of the course to be 
taken to lead them to their proposed destination, and, 
plunging into the woods, were soon lost to the sight 
of their companions. 

A small guard was then sent on in advance, with 
orders to pick up and detain every man on the road, 
not in the secret of the expedition. Scouts to range 
the woods on the right and left were also despatched 
for the same purpose; after which the main body 
of the forces quietly resumed their march for the lake. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE CAPTURE OF FORT TICONDEROGA BY CAPTAIN 

ETHAN ALLEN — Continued 

IT being now sufficiently dusk to prevent all obser- 
vation from the opposite garrison, Jones and 
Douglass proceeded immediately to the landing, which 
they found guarded by two Green Mountain Boys, 
who, making fishing their ostensible business, had, in 
pursuance of the arrangement before mentioned, 
closely watched the place during the two preceding 
days. Here, also, they met Neshobee, an Indian, who 
had just returned in a skiff from Major Skene's scow, 
in possession, as before intimated, of a stout negro, 
who, with two low, sottish fellows under his com- 
mand, having spent the day at that fort to take in 
some loading, and visit the soldiers previous to start- 
ing home, as they intended to do, the next morning, 
had come over just at night and taken a fishing sta- 
tion near the landing. Jones and his companions 
hesitated not to open their project of obtaining this 
boat to Neshobee, who very cheerfully agreed to co- 
operate with them in dumping the negro, and to 
assist in rowing the boat up to the landing, where 
they were to be met by Allen's forces. The boat was 

lying about a dozen rods from the shore; and black 

14 209 



210 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

Jack, as he was called, and his men, having pulled up 
their anchor, were now on the point of putting back 
for the fort ; when the party on the shore, their plan of 
operation being all arranged, hailed the black com- 
mander, and desired him to haul up to the landing. 

" Who the debil you, who want me to do all dat 
for notting?" replied Jack, in a swaggering, con- 
sequential tone. 

" Oh, pull up to the shore," said Wilcox, " there are 
three or four of us here who are wishing to make 
a bargain with you." 

"Bargain, hey? you shackaroons, you! You tink 
for play some deblish trick, don't you? Guess you 
find out you no catch weazel sleep so easy as all dat 
come to ! " responded the negro, chuckling at his own 
wit and sagacity. 

" 'No, now, honestly. Captain Jack," rejoined the 
first speaker, " we want to go to Shoreham landing 
to-night, to be ready to join a wolf hunt which 
they are going to start there early to-morrow 
morning." 

"Gosh all fire-lock!" exclaimed the black, whose 
opinion of his own importance was greatly raised by 
being addressed as Captain: "You tink I row my 
boat all de way op dar in de dark jest for 'commodate 
you? No! see you all dam fus! " 

" Now you are too bad. Captain ; but you w^on't 
damn our jug of old Jamaica, that we intended to 
offer you for carrying us up there, will you? " said 
the other, taking a jug from under his coat and 
swinging it over his head, so that the black, w^hose 



Black Jack 



211 



taste for liquor was well known to the young men, 
might catch a view of it in the twilight. 

" What you say, dere? " eagerly said Jack, stretch- 
ing forward his neck to see, and make sure of the 
existence of the tempting implement. 

" We say," replied the former, *' that here is a gal- 
lon of as good rum as ever run down your throat, 
which is at your service, if you will close the bargain. 
Come, give us your answer, for if we can't make a 
trade with you, we must be off for a boat somewhere 
else. What you say? — and mind ye, we will lend 
you a stiff hand at the oars to boot." 

" You help row de boat, you say? " answered Jack, 
in an altered and yielding tone. " Why de debil you 
no say so fore? Dat be a case dat alter de circum- 
stance. You werry much to blame, gemmen, dat 
you no mention so 'portant a difference in fus place," 
added the negro, while he and his men headed round 
the boat, and handled the oars with such effect that 
nearly the next moment she was lying at the landing. 

Within five minutes from the time, the magic jug, 
which had effected such a wonderful change in the 
aspect of affairs, having been well tested in the mean- 
while by Jack and his associates, all hands were stript 
and bending to the oars of the old scow, which, under 
the forceful strokes of Jones and his party, aided 
by the i*um-power of Jack's two besotted boatmen, 
was surging through the waters towards the south, as 
fast as their united strength would drive her. 

They were soon met, however, by puffs of south 
wind, against which they found it impossible to make 



212 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

but a very slow headway. And it was not until con- 
siderable past midnight that they came to the last 
reach, and hove in sight of the destined landing. But 
here overtaking Douglass with the other scow, and 
the party he had enlisted to help man it, both boats, 
with renewed efforts of rival speed, pushed forward 
for the appointed shore. 

" Boat ahoy ! " called out Allen from the landing, 
where, as the boats neared the place, his huge, tower- 
like form, rising in bold relief over the stationary 
group of officers around him, could now plainly bo 
discerned by the approaching crews: " boat ahoy! who 
comes here? " 

" Douglass and his friends, in this," was the reply 
from the first boat, coming in about its length in 
advance of the other. 

"And who is next?" asked Allen. 

" Jones and a thunder-cloud ! " responded the well- 
knovni voice of the jolly woodsman. " Now you 
needn't think I am fibbing. Colonel; for you will 
see it lighten when w^e get ashore." 

"All is well, then," said Allen, without heeding 
the remarks of Jones, further than his announcement 
of himself wath a boat, " all is well, and glory to 
God in the highest, that you have got here at last! 
I thought you would never come. Why, it has 
been an age since dark! Some old sun-stopping 
Joshua must be fighting on the other side of the 
earth, or, I swear, it would have been daylight long 
ago!" 

By this time the first boat had struck the shore. 



Seizure of Boats 213 

and the crew, leaping out, were all readily recognized 
by the leader, who then turned to the other boat, at 
that instant driving up, with the astonished and 
frightened negro (now for the first time mistrusting 
a trick), gibbering and sputtering aloud: 

" What de hell all dis? — who all dese? what pretty 
dam scrape you got me into here, you shackaroon 
debils, you? " 

" What in the name of all that is black and red 
have you got here, Jones ? " cried Allen, in surprise, 
stepping up and peering into the boat, on hearing 
Jack's exclamations. 

" Why, just what I told you. Colonel. Here! don't 
you see it lighten, now?" said Pete, pointing to the 
negro's eyes, which glaring wide with fear and as- 
tonishment, at what he saw and heard, glimmered 
like firebugs in the dark. " But the English of it 
is. Colonel, that we came across Major Skene's scow, 
commanded by Captain Darkey, with two oarsmen, 
here, who for a gallon of rum were kind enough to 
bring us along to join a hunting match at Shoreham, 
where we have now arrived, safe and sound," he con- 
tinued, turning to the black, " so now. Captain Jack, 
you have fulfilled your bargain with us ; and we have 
nothing more to say, as far as we are concerned. 
If these rough-looking chaps here want to employ 
you further, they will let you know it, likely." 

" Jones, you deserve a pension for life ! " exclaimed 
Allen comprehending the whole affair in an instant. 
" You and your friends here have killed more birds 
with one stone than you dreamed of yourselves, per- 



214 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

haps. But we have not a moment to lose, so leap 
out my lads, and as to Major Skene's boat it is mj^ 
lawful prize. And Major Skene's negro, and ]\Iajor 
Skene's negro's understrappers here, are all my 
prisoners! " 

" Oh, no, totally unpossible to stop, gemmen! " said 
Jack, in a good lord, good devil sort of tone, being 
doubtful whether they really intended to make him 
a prisoner, or engage him and his boat to carry them 
to some other place. " I have provision for de 
Major's family aboard. Dey all out ob supply for 
dere necessity. Quite unpossible, gemmen." 

" We will take care of the provisions. So out with 
you in no time, you black Satan!" said Allen im- 
patiently. 

" Oh, it be out ob all question I stop!" persisted 
the negro with increasing alarm, " I have odder 
'portant business — I have letter from de young leddy 
at Captain Hendee's [Chimney Point] to de young 
leddy ob Colonel Reed at de Major's dat I oblige for 
deliver, early in de morning." 

" We will undertake the delivery of the letter," said 
Selden and Warrington, simultaneously. 

"Tumble them out, boys!" sternly exclaimed 
Allen. 

" Oh, Lordy, I den be ruin! totally, foreber ruin! " 
groaned the distressed and frightened black, as the 
men seized him and his two drunken associates, and 
led them to the rear to be put under guard. 

The boats were now instantly headed round, the 
oars muffled, careful oarsmen selected and placed in 



Embarkation 215 

their seats; when, after each boat had been filled 
with as many troops as their respective burthens 
would safely permit, they pushed off from the shore, 
preceded a short hailing distance by a skiff, occupied 
by Allen and Arnold, with Phelps to pilot them to 
their contemplated landing, on the opposite shore. The 
wind had some time since died wholly away, and the 
elements were now all hushed, as if in the slumbers 
of death; while the deeply freighted crafts glided 
slowly on, impelled by the light dip of the feathery 
oars, which, in the hands of the experienced and care- 
ful men who plied them, unitedly rose and fell as 
noiseless as the feet of fairies on beds of flowers. At 
length the dark, massy walls of the fortress, looming 
up, became discernible to the men. And yet, as they 
drew near these frowning walls, pierced by a hundred 
cannon, over which, for aught they knew, the lighted 
matches were suspended, awaiting but the signal to 
send their iron showers of death to every man of 
their devoted band, no misgivings, no weak relentings 
came over them: but at a moment like this and that 
which followed at the onset, — moments furnishing, 
perhaps, a more undoubted test of courage than those 
of the half frantic, half mechanical charges of the 
disciplined legions of Napoleon, at the later fields of 
Austerlitz and Marengo — at a moment like this, we 
say, their stout hearts, nothing daunted at the dan- 
gers before them, beat high and proudly at the 
thought of the coming encounter, and with stern de- 
termination gleaming in every eye, and with the low- 
whispered words of impatience for the moment of 



2i6 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

action to arrive, they moved steadily on to the daring 
purpose. 

Passing down obliquely by the works, they landed 
some distance to the north of them. The instant they 
touched the shore the troops leaped on the banks; 
and scarcely had the last foot been lifted from the 
boats before they were backed, wheeled, and on their 
return for another load, leaving those on shore to 
await in silence the arrival of a reinforcement from 
their companions left behind, before marching to the 
onset. Those companions, however, were not des- 
tined to share in the glory of this splendid achieve- 
ment of the eighty Green Mountain Boys who had 
landed ; for in a few moments, to the dismay of Allen, 
the faint suffusions of dawning day became visible in 
the east. Cursing the luck which had caused such 
delays, and chafing like a chained lion held back from 
his prey, that impetuous leader for a few moments 
rapidly paced the shore before his men, in an agony 
of impatience — now casting an eager look at the fort, 
still silent and undisturbed, now straining his vision 
after the receding boats, which, to him, seemed to 
move like snails across the waters, and now throwing 
an uneasy glance at the reddening east, whose twi- 
light glow, growing broader and brighter every 
instant, plainly told him that, before another de- 
tachment of troops could arrive, his forces would be 
discovered, and the enterprise, in all probability, 
would thus be defeated. JMaddened at the thought, 
he stopped short in his walk, paused an instant, and 
brought his foot with a significant stamp to the 



Debarkation 217 

ground, showing that his resolution was taken. And 
quickly calling out Jones and Neshobee, he de- 
spatched them to go forward, cautiously reconnoitre 
the fort on all sides, and return as speedily as pos- 
sible to report their discoveries. He then formed his 
men in three ranks and addressed them. 

" You see, my friends and fellow-soldiers," he 
commenced, pointing his sword to the east, " that 
daylight will reveal us to the enemy before a re- 
inforcement can possibly arrive. But can you, who 
have so long been the scourge of tyrants, bring your 
minds to relinquish the noble enterprise, and with it the 
proud name you have achieved, by turning your backs 
on the glorious prize, when it is now almost within 
your grasp? " 

He paused for a reply; when "No! no! no! '* ran 
through the lines in eager responses. 

" I see, I see, mj^ brave fellows," resumed the 
gratified leader, " I see what you would do. I read 
it in j^our deeply breathed tones of determination — 
in your quick and short-drawn respirations, and in 
your restless and impatient movements. But have 
j'-ou well considered? I now propose to lead you 
through yonder gate; and I fear not to tell men of 
your stamp, that we incur no small hazard of life 
in the attempt. And, as I would urge no man to 
engage against his own free will, I now give free 
and full permission to all, who choose, to remain be- 
hind. You, therefore, who will voluntarily accom- 
pany me, poise your guns." 

Every man's gun was instantly brought to a poise, 



21 8 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

with a motion which told with what good-will it was 
made. 

"God bless you, my noble fellows!" exclaimed 
Allen proudly, and with emotion: " Courage like 
that " — he continued, in tones of concentrated energy, 
" courage like that, w4th hearts of oak, and nerves 
of steel like yours, must, will, and by the help of the 
God of hosts, shall triumph! Come on, then! follow 
me — march while I march — run and rush when I set 
the example; and if I fall, still rush on, and over 
me, to vengeance and victory! To the right wheel! 
march ! " 

When the band arrived within about a furlong of 
the ramparts, they were met by the scouts, who re- 
ported that all was quiet in and about the fort, while 
the open gate was guarded only by one sluggish and 
sleepy-looking sentinel. Halting no longer than was 
necessary to hear this report, Allen, placing himself 
at the head of the centre column, silently waved his 
sword to the troops as a signal for resuming the 
march; when they all again moved forward with 
rapid but cautious steps towards the guarded gate- 
way. And so noiseless and unexpected was their 
approach, that they came within twenty paces of the 
entrance before they were discovered by the drowsy 
sentry, who was slowly pacing to and fro, with 
shouldered musket, before it. Turning around with 
a start, the aroused soldier glared an instant at the 
advancing array, in mute astonishment and alarm; 
when he hastily cocked, and levelled his piece at 
Allen, who was striding towards him, several yards 



Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 219 

in advance of his men. It was an instant on which 
hung the fate of the hero of the Green Moun- 
tains and, probably, also the destinies of Ticonde- 
roga. But the gun missed fire. The life of the 
daring leader was safe, and the garrison slept on, 
unalarmed, and unconscious of their danger. Leap- 
ing forward like the bounding tiger on his victim, 
Allen followed up the retreating soldier so hotly 
that, with all the speed which fear could lend him, 
he could scarcely keep clear of the rapidly whirling 
sword of his fiery pursuer, till he gained the interior 
of the fortress ; w^hen he gave a loud screech of alarm, 
and making a desperate leap for the bomb proof, 
disappeared within its recesses. Meanwhile the rush- 
ing column of troops came sweeping like a whirlwind 
through the gate; when fairly gaining the parade 
ground in front of the barracks, they gave three 
cheers which made the old walls tremble with the 
deafening reverberations, and caused the slumbering 
garrison to start from their beds in wild dismay at 
the unwonted sound. Scarcely had the last huzza 
escaped the lips of the men and their leader, who dis- 
dained not to mingle his own stentorian voice in the 
peals of exultation and defiance, which rose in 
thunders to heaven, before the latter was rapidly 
threading his way through flying sentries and half- 
dressed officers, towards the quarters of the command- 
ant of the fortress. Pausing an instant on his way, 
to chastise a dastard sentinel whom he caught making 
a pass at one of our officers with his bayonet, and 
whom, with one blow with the flat of his sword, he 



220 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

sent reeling to the earth with the cry of mercy on his 
lips, the daring leader bounded up the stairway lead- 
ing to the commandant's room, and thundering at 
the door, called loudly to that officer to come forth. 
Captain La Place, who had just leaped from his bed, 
on hearing the tumult below, soon made his appear- 
ance with his clothes ifi his hand, but suddenly 
recoiling a step, he stood gazing in mute amaze- 
ment at the stern and threatening air, and the 
powerful and commanding figure of the man before 
him. 

" I come, sir, to demand the immediate surrender 
of this fortress! " sternly said Allen, to the astonished 
commander. 

" By what authority do you make this bold demand 
of his Majesty's fort, sir?" said the other, almost 
distrusting his senses. 

"By what authoritj^?" thundered Allen, "I de- 
mand it, sir, in the name of the great Jehovah and 
the Continental Congress ! " 

" The Continental Congress? " stammered the hesi- 
tating officer, " I know no right — I don't acknowledge 
it, sir " 

"But you soon will acknowledge it, sir!" fiercely 
interrupted the impatient leader. " And hesitate to 
obey me one instant longer, and by the eternal 
heavens! I will sacrifice every man in your fort! — 
beginning the work, sir," he added, whirling his sword 
furiously over the head of the other, and bringing 
the murderous blade at every glittering circle it made 
in the air, nearer and nearer the head of its threat- 



Allen's Authority 221 

ened victim, " beginning the work, sir, by sending 
your own head dancing across this floor!" 

"I yield, I yield!" cried the shrinking com- 
mandant. 

"Down! down then, instantly!" exclaimed Allen, 
" and communicate the surrender to your men while 
any of them are left alive to hear it." 

Scarcely allowing the crest-fallen officer time to 
encase his legs in his breeches, Allen hurried him 
down to the scene of action, in the open parade be- 
low. Here they found the Green JNIountain Boj^s 
eagerly engaged in the work of capturing the garri- 
son, who were making considerable show of resist- 
ance. Two of the barrack doors had been beaten 
down, and about a third of the enemy already made 
prisoners. And the fiery Arnold was on the point 
of blowing a third door from its hinges with a swivel, 
which he had caused to be drawn up for the purpose ; 
while a fourth was shaking and tottering under the 
tremendous blows of an axe, wielded by the long and 
powerful arms of Pete Jones, who was found among 
the foremost in the contest. 

" Cease, cease ye all! " cried Allen, in a loud voice 
of command, as he appeared among them with La 
Place by his side. 

" T^ow raaly, Colonel," said Jones, suspending his 
elevated implement, and holding it back over his head 
in readiness for another blow, " I wish you would 
let me settle with this devilish old oak door before 
I stop. Why, I never was so bothered with such a 
small potato in my life! " 



222 Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 

"No, no!" answered the other smiling, "let us 
have silence a moment, and we will save you all 
troubles of that kind." 

" Well, then, here goes for a parting blessing ! " 
exclaimed the woodsman, bringing down his axe with 
a tremendous blow, which brought the shattered door 
tumbling to the ground. 

The British commandant then, calling his officers 
around him, informed them that he had surrendered 
the fortress, and ordered them to parade the men 
without arms. While this was in performance, a 
second detachment of Green Mountain Boys reached 
the shore, and, having eagerly hastened on to the fort 
to join their companions, now, with Warrington at 
their head, came pouring into the arena. A single 
glance sufficed to tell the latter that he was too late 
to participate in aught but the fi*uits of the victory. 
With a disappointed and mortified air he halted his 
men, and approached to the side of his leader. 

" Ah! Colonel! " said he, " is this the way you ap- 
propriate all the laurels to yourself, entirely forgetful 
of your friends? " 

"Pooh! pooh! Charles," replied Allen, turning to 
the other with a soothing, yet self-complaisant smile 
at the half reproachful compliment thus conveyed, 
" you need not mourn much lost glory in this affair. 
Why, the stupid devils did not give us a fight enough 
to whet our appetites for breakfast ! But nev^r mind, 
Charles, there is more business yet to be done ; Crown 
Point and Major Skene's stone castle must both be 
ours to-night. The taking of the first shall be yours 




JriiitlitotffiMateflttaii 



Tlio Stern of Arnold's Flaji-sliiit, Tin- R( roigc. 



Joy of the Green Mountain Boys 223 

to perform. And after breakfast and a few bumpers 
in honor of our victory, we will despatch you for that 
purpose, with a corps of your own selection." 

" Thank you, thank you, Colonel," replied the other 
with a grateful smile. But the expedition to Skenes- 
boro' — may I not speak a word for our friend Selden ! " 

"Aha!" replied Allen, laughing, "then this offer 
to take charge of the negro's letter had its meaning, 
eh? I don't know, exactly, about that chip of a 
British colonel for a Yankee patriot. Now, yours. 
Major, I acknowledge to be a true Cynosure. But 
his, I fear, will prove a Dog-star. However, this is 
his own hunt; and as he is a finished fellow, and, 
doubtless, brave and true, I think I will give him 
the command of the expedition, unless claimed by 
Easton. But, hush! the commandant is about to go 
through the forms of the surrender. I must away, 
but will see you again." 

The brief ceremonies of the surrender were soon 
over; when, as the fortress was pronounced to be in 
full possession of the conquerors, the heavens were 
again rent by the reiterated huzzas of the Green 
Mountain Boys, while British cannon were made to 
peal forth with their deep-mouthed thunders, to the 
trembling hills and reverberating mountains of the 
country around, the proclamation of victory! — 
the first triumph of Young Freedom over the arms 
of her haughty oppressor. 

Two days afterwards Colonel Seth Warner made 
an easy conquest of Crown Point. 



CHAPTER XVII 

CROWN POINT, 1731 (la POINTE DE LA CHEVELURE) — 
FORT ST. FREDERIC — FORT AMHERST — TERCENTE- 
NARY OF THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN 

THE Crown Point of military occupation should 
not be confounded with the village of Crown 
Point of the present day. Crown Point village in 
the town of Crown Point is situated about six miles 
south of the old fortress. The ruins of the fort which 
is spoken of in old gazetteers as Crown Point Fort- 
ress are situated on a broad point of land jutting down 
into the lake about two miles, forming, to the west, 
Bulwagga Bay. This tract of land is about a mile 
wide and on the extreme northern point are the ruins 
of old Fort St. Frederic, built by the French in 
1731, who as early as 1689 called this spot La Pointe 
de la Chevelure. The significance of the name is 
not now apparent, but from the definitions given, 
foliage of trees, hair, head of hair, perhaps a thick 
growth of trees or bushes, with a luxuriance of foli- 
age, may have suggested the name. 

A correspondent of the Spofford Gazetteer of 1824 
writes as follows : " It is generally believed that the 
ruins of Crown Point fort, situated in this town, was 

the Fort St. Frederic of the French. This, I be- 

224 



Fort St. Frederic 225 

lieve, is a mistake. Fort St. Frederic, built by the 
French in 1731, was a very inconsiderable fortress, 
situated on the very bank of the lake, about one hun- 
dred and fifty yards away, in a direction a little south 
of east, and resembled more a redoubt, or citadel, than 
a regular built fort. It is said to have been blown 
up by firing its magazine, and is now (1813) a mere 
heap of stones." This account says : " It is situated 
on a rock having a strong citadel arched with stone, 
three stories high, the walls thereof about seven feet 
thick, and has four regular bastions." 
In 1743 it had the following armament: 

12 iron 4-pounders with marine carriages and 

690 Balls. 

1 iron 2-pounder with carriage. 

2 small hand grenade mortars, two carriages, and 

200 grenades. 

13 swivels mounted on parapets, and 31 case-shot, 

and 160 iron half-pound balls. 

Its garrison, in April, 1745, consisted of Captain 
de Noyas, Lieutenants Dumot, De Boucherville, 
Herbin, Ensign de Millon, Second Ensign de 
Montigny; five sergeants and eighty-eight soldiers. 
It was provided with a good supply of provi- 
sions and munitions of war. At this period Fort 
Chambly on the Richelieu served as a store, or 
entrepot for munitions destined for Fort St. 
Frederic. 

The land on which Fort St. Frederic was erected 
was claimed by the Mohawks, and it is said that the 
English remonstrated, but did not resist the occupa- 



226 Fort St. Frederic 

tion of this j^oint by the French. It was at this point 
that the raid on old Saratoga, in 1745, was organized, 
also the Indian raid on Hoosic in 1754. 

A persistent tradition seems to prevail, that pre- 
vious to the building of the Fort St. Frederic, in 
1731, a village existed on this point, which w^as quite 
an important trading post between the whites and 
the Indians. In its best days it is thought to have 
had a population of fifteen hundred to three thousand, 
but even before French military occupation, it might 
have been an important mart for the Indian trade. 

This village is probably the one destroyed by 
Rogers's rangers on February 2, 1756. There are 
ruins at this point which seem to be the remains of 
a village, with the outlines of streets and cellars of 
houses, still visible. 

In 1755 it was reported to Vaudreuil that Fort St. 
Frederic was threatening to fall on all sides on ac- 
count of the walls being too weak to support the 
terraces. 

Kalm, the Swedish traveller, in 1750, is the au- 
thority^ for the following additional information in 
regard to Fort St. Frederic. He says that the fort- 
ress was named for Frederic Maurepas, French Sec- 
retary of State when the fort was built. As it was 
the custom to give the names of saints to places in 
Canada, it became the custom to prefix names of saints 
to fortresses ; hence the name Fort St. Frederic. He 
also says : '* In the terre-plain of the fort is a well- 
built little church, and houses of stone for the officers 
and soldiers." He mentions also a quarry of black 




C3 
O 






r3 

a 
o 
Sjd 






Tercentenary 227 

limestone about half a mile from the fort from which 
the fort and buildings were built. 

This is the onh^ reference to an ancient church on 
this point that I have seen. 

The Tercentenary of the Discovery of Lake Cham- 
plain by Samuel de Champlain, in July, 1609, has 
passed into history, as an event well conceived and 
well executed. 

The ball was set rolling April 15, 1907, by a bill 
introduced in the Senate of the State of New York, 
by Hon. Henry W. Hill, of Buffalo, authorizing the 
appointment of a commission to confer with commis- 
sioners from the State of Vermont and the Dominion 
of Canada in relation to the proper observance of the 
Tercentenary of the Discovery of Lake Champlain. 

This resolution having been adopted, April 15, 
1907, a commission was appointed, conferences were 
held, and a general plan was suggested. Afterward, 
in the Senate, 1908, a bill was passed, and a per- 
manent conmiission was appointed, consisting of 
M. Wallin Knapp Mooers, New York, chairman; 
John W. Hill, of Buffalo, secretary; Walter C. 
Witherbee, of Port Henry, treasurer; J. Frawley, 
New York City; James Shea, of Lake Placid; Wil- 
liam R. Weaver, of Peru; James A. Foley, of New 
York City; John H. Booth, of Plattsburg; James B. 
Riley, of Plattsburg; Louis C. Lafontaine, of Cham- 
plain, and Howland Pell, of New York City. 

Under the supen^ision of the above committee, a 
series of pageants for the week beginning Sun- 



2 28 Tercentenary 

day, July, 4, 1909, were inaugurated, and success- 
fully carried out, before immense multitudes of 
delighted spectators. Appropriate services were held 
in all of the churches in the Champlain Valley on 
July 4th; formal exercises at Crown Point on July 
5th; at Ticonderoga on July 6th; at Plattsburg on 
July 7th; at Burlington on July 8th; and at Isle La 
JNIotte on July 9th; at all of which President Taft, 
Vice-President Sherman, Governor Hughes, the Eng- 
lish Ambassador, James Brice, and the French Am- 
bassador, J. J. Jusserand, and Governor Prouty of 
Vermont made speeches. 

The proposed restoration of old Fort Ticonde- 
roga, by Mrs. S. H. P. Pell, attracted wide attention, 
as the preservation of the old ruins has been the desire 
of patriots of the Champlain Valley and indeed of 
many historical societies in New York State. This 
restoration Mrs. Pell will be able to accomplish 
through the liberality of her father. Colonel Robert 
M. Thompson. It is estimated the cost of restora- 
tion according to the plans of the architect will be 
about five hundred thousand dollars and complete 
restoration will occupy about ten years. Already the 
West Barracks, the building which was the scene of 
the dramatic demand of Colonel Ethan Allen for the 
surrender of the fort, May 18, 1775, is about com- 
pleted, and a little order has been brought about, out 
of the chaos of the ruins. 





O 

m 



fcX) 

o 



o 

O 



CHAPTER XVIII 

NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANT — GENERAL BENEDICT ARNOLD 

EVACUATION OF FORT TICONDEROGA BY GENERAL 

ST. CLAIR — FORT GEORGE — ^ETHAN ALLEN 

PREVIOUS to the Revolution, for many years, 
* the unfortunate controversy called the New 
Hampshire Grants was raging between New York, 
New Hampshire, and Vermont, each claiming the 
territory bordering on Lake Champlain and extend- 
ing east to the Connecticut River. At the period of 
the Revolution, the settlers of that territory, now 
Vermont, were aroused to resist the claim of New 
York. These men, armed and equipped, were called 
" Green Mountain Boys." This band, although very 
bitter against the counter-claims of the New Yorkers, 
were earnest patriots, and during the coming cam- 
paign did yeoman's service in the Continental army; 
although their leaders, Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, 
Remember Baker, and others, were outlawed by Gov- 
ernor Tryon, and ordered to surrender, " under pain 
of conviction of felony and death without benefit of 
clergy, within thirty days." A bounty of one hun- 
dred and fifty pounds was offered for the capture of 

Ethan Allen, and fiftj'' pounds for each of the others. 

229 



230 Old Fort George 

The Vermont leaders retorted by offering a reward for 
the capture of the Attorney-General of New York. 

The beginning of the Revolution caused a sus- 
pension of the controversy. This was finally settled 
by the State of Vermont paying the State of New 
York thirty thousand dollars for territory claimed by 
that State. 

During an early visit to Lake George I was told 
that one of the interesting historic sites was the ruins 
of old Fort George. "When was it ruined?" I 
asked; and the answer was invariably, "I don't 
know." I then asked what battle was fought there; 
and the answer came " I don't know." Subsequent 
visits and inquiries elicited the same answer, " I don't 
know." 

I began to dub it, " Mysterious Fort George." 
However, I always visited the place, east of the road 
to Fort Edward, and found evidence of a small ruin 
that looked more like a dilapidated lime-kiln than a re- 
nowned fort, the name of which one was always seeing 
in the annals of the French and Indian and Revolu- 
tionary wars. Some one has said that the quickest way 
to do a thing is to "do it." Hence the task, for in- 
formation in regard to old Fort George. One of the 
first things that I discovered was that there were three 
forts called Fort George, one in New York City, one 
on Lake George, and one, during the war of 1812-14, 
in Ontario, near Niagara. 

In the New York State Library are many maps 
of English forts in the Champlain and ]Mohawk 



Old Fort George 231 

valleys. One of them delineates Fort William Henry 
and its surroundings. To the east of Fort William 
Henr)^ is a broad point of land nearly surrounded 
by the swamp. On this point, which is higher ground, 
are traced the lines of an entrenchment, but no fort. 
It was on this higher ground, to the west of the Fort 
Edward road, that Sir William Johnson met and 
defeated Baron Dieskau, in September, 1755. 

On another map (Rocque), evidently made by an 
engineer, is shown this entrenchment, inside of which 
is the plan of a fort that is to be built, the general 
plan of which is the same as that of Fort William 
Henry, that is, a square with bastions at each corner. 
This map shows one bastion nearly completed. This 
plan is marked: " Fort George as far as built, 1759, 
by Rocque." 

So Fort George at the siege of Fort William 
Henry, 1757, consisted of entrenchments only. 
Afterwards, that is in 1758-59, the fort was begun, 
but only one bastion (the southwest corner) was 
built but not entirely completed. 

It will be remembered that the soldiers and others 
who were not needed to man the guns of Fort Wil- 
liam Henry were encamped in the entrenchments of 
" Fort George," which was designed but never 
completed. 

I will also say that the French in 1757 persistently 
called the fortification of Fort William Henry, Fort 
Georges. 

In Holden's History of Queenshnry (1873) I have 
found much interesting material relating to the upper 



232 Old Fort George 

Hudson Valley and Lake George during the Revolu- 
tion. He says that on the 12th of July, 1766, Gates 
assumed the command of the northern army, making 
his headquarters at Ticonderoga. His first attention 
was directed to the disposal and care of the hundreds 
of invalid troops, then pouring back from Canada, a 
large proportion of whom were suffering from small- 
pox. In order to care for them properly, a general 
hospital was established at Fort George, where 
there were soon between two and three thousand sick, 
and where every soldier infected was immediately 
sent. 

A spacious building was at this time erected for 
the purpose of a hospital on the flat below the out- 
works of " Fort George." In addition, tents were 
put uj). This hospital was in charge of Dr. 
Jonathan Potts. 

Fort George is said to have been destroyed on July 
16, 1777. 

General Philip Schuyler states: 

" The fort was part of an unfinished bastion of an 
intended fortification. The bastion was closed at the 
gorge. In it was a barrack capable of containing 
between thirty and fifty men, without ditch, without 
wall, w^ithout cistern; without a picket to prevent an 
enemy from running over the wall; so small as not 
to contain over one hundred and fift}^ men, com- 
manded by ground greatly overlooking it and within 
point-blank shot, and so situated that five hundred 
men may lie between the bastion and the lake, without 
danger from the fort." 




iX) 



^3 



c 

w 

o 



o 



Benedict Arnold 233 

Shakespeare makes Mark Antony say: 

"The evil that men do lives after them; 
The good is oft interred with their bones." 

Do not think that I am posing as an apologist for 
the arch-traitor Benedict Arnold, but in reading the 
above quotation I have vi^ondered if it is ti*ue. If 
so, it is not in accordance with the teaching of Christ. 
It is human, not divine. 

However, it is the one false note of the Casta Diva, 
the rift in the lute, that is remembered. It is by that 
one false note that we are judged, all else forgotten. 
All that is beautiful in the song of the Diva is for- 
gotten, all that is noble in one's life will not outweigh 
the one false note, the one false step. This also is 
human, not divine. 

Benedict Arnold was born in Norwich, Connecti- 
cut, January 14, 1741. As a boy he was bold, mis- 
chievous, fiery, pugnacious. Apprenticed to an 
apothecary, he ran away and enlisted as a soldier, 
but deserted. For four years he was a bookseller 
and druggist in New Haven, and afterwards mas- 
ter and supercargo of a vessel trading to the 
West Indies. Immediately after the affair at Lex- 
ington, he raised a company and marched to 
Cambridge. 

His conduct at Fort Ticonderoga is worthy of all 
praise. His generous conduct in yielding the com- 
mand to Ethan Allen, that was undoubtedly his by 



234 Benedict Arnold 

right of lawful authority, his patriotism in following 
Allen as a common soldier, and his bravery and in- 
domitable perseverance at the first naval battle on 
Lake Champlain, were acts which alone should have 
made him a hero. 

You will remember the gathering of material and 
of artisans for the construction of a small navy. You 
will recall how in the course of a few weeks the 
Americans constructed and manned one sloop of 
twelve guns, one schooner of the same number of 
guns and two of eight each, five gondolas of three 
guns each, and how about the middle of August they 
sailed for Rouse Point, to act onlj^ on the defensive. 
Convinced that his position was dangerous, Arnold 
fell back about ten miles to Isle La JNIotte. Here 
his fleet was considerably increased, and consisted of 
three schooners, two sloops, three galleys, eight gon- 
dolas, and twenty-one gun-boats. The English out- 
numbered the Americans and defeat w^as expected, 
and realized. Arnold was on the galley Congress, and 
conducted matters with great bravery and skill. 
About one o'clock the engagement became general 
and the American vessels, particularly the Congress, 
suffered severely. It was hulled twelve times, re- 
ceived seven shots between wind and water, the 
mainmast was shattered in two places, the rigging 
cut to pieces, and many of the crew killed and 
M^ounded. Arnold pointed almost every gun on his 
vessel with his own hands, and with voice and gesture 
cheered on his men. Night closed on the scene, 
Arnold held a council with his officers, and on account 



Arnold's Battle 235 

of the superiority of the British vessels it was de- 
termined to retire up the lake. Anticipating such a 
movement on the part of the Americans, the British 
commander anchored his vessels in a line extending 
from the island to the mainland. It being a dark 
night, however, Arnold succeeded in getting his 
whole flotilla through the English line without being 
observed. 

At daybreak the English gave chase. Early on 
the morning of October 13th the British vessels drew 
near and engaged the American vessels, the Congress 
and Washington., and four gondolas. After a very 
destructive fire from the British, the Washington 
struck, and the commander. General Waterbury, and 
his men were made prisoners. The whole force of 
the attack now fell on the " flag-ship," the Congress^ 
but Arnold maintained his ground unflinchingly for 
four hours. The galley was reduced almost to a 
wreck, and was surrounded by seven sail of the enemy. 
Longer resistance was in vain, and the intrepid Ar- 
nold ran the galley and four gondolas into a small 
creek on the east side of the lake, about ten miles 
below Crown Point, not far below Paton. He 
ordered the marines to set them on fire as soon as 
they were grounded, to leap into the water and to 
wade ashore with their muskets, and form in such a 
manner on the beach as to guard the burning ves- 
sels from the approach of the enem3^ Arnold re- 
mained in his galley until driven off by the fire. He 
kept the flags flying, and remained on the spot until 
the little flotilla was consumed. Afterwards he made 



236 Vices and Virtues 

his y/ay to Crown Point, his celerity of movement 
enabhng him to escape an ambush of Indians, who 
had been sent forward for that purpose. 

His march through the wilderness of Maine to 
Quebec, undertaken at a season when such a journey 
would entail great suffering, deserves praise for the 
energy and intrepidity with which it was conducted. 
His bravery at Saratoga enabled General Gates to 
complete the downfall of Burgoyne. You will also 
remember his hurried march from Albany to Fort 
Schuyler, which created a panic in St. Leger's army, 
and his rapid return to take part in the defeat of 
Burgoyne, and his anger when he found younger 
officers promoted over him. 

It seems as though up to that time he had been a 
brave soldier and a patriot. Soon came the final 
act, the rift in the lute which has made his name 
execrated throughout the world and has branded him 
with the word traitor. Itemizing his virtues and his 
vices, we find that the former outweigh the latter. 
Virtues Vices 

Ambitious Ambitious 

Brave to rashness Jealous 

Courageous Vindictive 

Intrepid Treacherous 

Generous 
Patriotic 
Self-sacrificing 

Arnold assumed command of Fort Ticonderoga 
the moment the fort surrendered (May 10, 1775) but 



Ethan Allen in Prison 237 

his orders were not heeded and in a few days Colonel 
Ethan Allen was formally installed and authorized 
to remain subject to the orders of the Continental 
Congress. Allen was soon sent to Canada (Sep- 
tember 24, 1775) and engaged in an attempt to cap- 
ture Montreal, an attempt which resulted in his 
defeat and capture. When Allen and his few com- 
panions were delivered into the custody of the British 
General Prescott, they experienced most bi-utal treat- 
ment. On learning, by conversation with Allen, that 
he was the man who captured Ticonderoga, the Gen- 
eral threatened him with the halter and ordered him 
placed in irons on board of a Gaspe war-schooner. 
A bar of iron eight feet long was attached to his 
shackles, and with his fellow-prisoners, who were 
fastened in pairs with handcuffs, he was thrust into 
the lowest part of the ship, where neither seat nor 
bed was allowed them. 

He remained five weeks in irons, and was finally 
transferred to another vessel, where he received better 
treatment, subsequently being sent to England to be 
tried for treason. Arriving in England he was con- 
fined for a time in Pendennis Castle, near Falmouth. 
He was sent to Halifax in the spring of 1776, where 
he was confined in jail till the autumn; from there 
to New York, then in possession of the British. 
There he was detained another year and a half but 
was finally released in May, 1778. 

He died at Colchester, Vermont, February 13, 1789. 

While Allen and Arnold were still rival command- 
ers at Ticonderoga, Arnold had some influence over 



238 Arnold's Expedition to St. John's 

the soldiers he had enlisted. A portion of these 
troops had passed through Skenesboro, capturing 
JMajor Skene and his Tory retainers together with 
a small schooner. Colonel Arnold immediately armed 
the schooner and proceeded to St. John's on the Sorel 
River (now Richelieu) where there was a king's sloop- 
of-war mounting sixteen guns, and a supply of pro- 
visions. The fort at St. John's was surprised, the 
garrison captured, and the sloop supplied Mdth pro- 
visions seized; five bateaux were destroyed and four 
more captured, whereupon Arnold returned to Ticon- 
deroga fort. 

Thus in a few days, a handful of undisciplined men, 
with small arms only and without a single bayonet, in 
a series of exploits and without the loss of a single 
man, had secured that which had cost the mother 
country a succession of campaigns, the sacrifice of 
many lives and an outlay of eight millions sterling; 
furnishing at the same time military supplies of 
great value to the infant cause of freedom, and se- 
curing the great highway leading to his INIajesty's 
Canadian dominions. 

On the 18th of July, 1775, General Philip Schuyler 
assumed command at Ticonderoga, but in September 
went on an expedition to Canada. 

In June, 1777, this fort was garrisoned by about 
two thousand half-armed men and boys under com- 
mand of General Arthur St. Clair, who, although a 
British soldier, had espoused the cause of the patriots. 
There were strong outposts around Ticonderoga, but 
St. Clair did not have men enough to man them. 




; V V 












4 




Old Fireplaces, Fort Amherst, Crown Point. 



General Arthur St. Clair 239 

General Burgoyne with a force of ten thousand 
men and a splendid train of artillery had occupied 
Crown Point after having driven out a small garri- 
son of Americans. 

The following account is taken from The History 
of New York by James Macauley (1829) : 

" But, notwithstanding the apparent strength of 
Ticonderoga, it was effectually overlooked and com- 
manded by a portion of the Palmertown Mountain, 
called by some Sugar Hill, and by others Mount 
Defiance. This mountain, by its proximity and 
elevation, had such an entire command both of Ticon- 
deroga and Mount Independence, that an enemy 
might, from thence, have counted the numbers, and 
enfiladed every part of the works. This circum- 
stance was well known to the American officers, and 
they had a consultation about fortifying this moun- 
tain; but it was declined, because their works were 
already so extensive that, with the addition of what 
would be proper on Mount Defiance, they would 
require ten or twelve thousand men for the defence, 
a much greater number than were there then. In- 
stead of a full complement of troops to man the ex- 
tensive lines, and defend the numerous works, the 
whole force which General St. Clair had, did not 
exceed three thousand five hundred men, including 
militia, and these not well armed. 

" From Crown Point, the British army advanced 
on both sides of the lake; the naval force keeping 
its station in the centre, the frigate and gun-boats 
cast anchor just out of cannon shot from the Ameri- 



240 Evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga 

can works. On the near approach of the right wing, 
which advanced on the west side of the lake, on the 
2d of July, the Americans abandoned, and set fire 
to their works, block-houses and saw-mills, towards 
Lake George; and without attempting any serious 
opposition, suffered General Phillips to take posses- 
sion of JNIount Hope. This post commanded the 
American lines in a great degree, and cut off their 
communication with Lake George. The enemy 
charged the Americans, on this occasion, with supine- 
ness and want of vigor; but this charge seems not 
well founded ; they had not enough men to make any 
effectual opposition to the powerful force which 
threatened to enclose them. 

" In the meantime, the British army proceeded with 
such expedition, in the construction of their works, 
the bringing up of their artillery, stores, and pro- 
visions, and the establishment of posts and communi- 
cations, that by the fifth, matters were so far 
advanced as to require but one or two days more 
to completely invest the posts on both sides of the 
lake. JMount Defiance had also been examined, and 
the advantages which it presented were so important, 
that it had been determined to take possession, and 
erect a battery there. This work, though attended 
with extreme difficulty and labor, had been carried on 
by General Phillips with much expedition and suc- 
cess. A road had been made over very rough ground, 
to the top of the mount; and the enemy were at work 
in constructing a level for a battery, and transporting 
their cannon. As soon as this battery should be ready 



Evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga 241 

to play, the American works would have been com- 
pletely invested on all sides. 

" The situation of General St. Clair was now very 
critical. He called a council of war, to deliberate 
on measures to be taken. He informed them, that 
their whole effective number was not sufficient to 
man one half of the works; that as the whole must 
be constantly on duty, it would be impossible for 
them to endure the fatigue for any considerable 
length of time; that General Schuyler, who was then 
at Fort Edward, had not sufficient forces to relieve 
them; and that, as the enemy's batteries were nearly 
ready to open upon them, and the place would be com- 
pletely invested in twenty-four hours, nothing could 
save the troops but an immediate evacuation of the 
posts. 

" It was proposed that the baggage of the army, 
"v^dth such artillery stores and provisions as the neces- 
sity of the occasion would admit, should be embarked 
with a strong detachment on board of two hundred 
bateaux and despatched, under convoy of five armed 
galleys, up the lake to Skenesboro (Whitehall) 
and that the main bodj'' of the army should proceed 
by land, taking its route on the road to Castleton, 
which was about thirty miles southeast of Ticonde- 
roga, and join the boats and galleys at Skenes- 
boro. It was thought necessary to keep the 
matter a secret till the time should come when 
it was to be executed. Hence, the necessary pre- 
parations could not be made, and it was not pos- 
sible to prevent irregularity and disorder, in the 



242 Evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga 

different embarkations and movements of the 
troops. 

" About two o'clock in the morning of July the 
sixth, General St. Clair left Ticonderoga, and about 
three, the troops at Mount Independence were put 
in motion. The house which had been occupied by 
General de Fermoy was, contrary to orders, set on 
fire. This afforded complete information to the 
enemy of what was going forward, and enabled them 
to see every movement of the Americans ; at the same 
time, it impressed the latter with such an idea of dis- 
covery and danger, as precipitated them into great 
disorder. About four o'clock. Colonel Francis brought 
off the rear-guard, and conducted their retreat in a 
regular manner; and soon after some of the regi- 
ments, through the exertions of their officers, recov- 
ered from their confusion. When the troops arrived 
at Hubbardton they were halted for nearly two hours, 
and the rear-guard was increased by many who did 
not at first belong to it, but were picked up on the 
road, having been unable to keep up with their regi- 
ments. The rear-guard was here put under the com- 
mand of Colonel Seth Warner, with orders to follow 
the army, as soon as the whole came up, and to halt 
about a mile and a half short of the main body. The 
army then proceeded to Castleton, about six miles 
farther — Colonel Warner, with the rear-guard and 
stragglers, remaining at Hubbardton. 

" The retreat of the Americans from Ticonderoga 
and Mount Independence was no sooner perceived 
by the British, than General Fraser began an eager 



Evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga 243 

pursuit with his brigade. Major-General Riedesel 
was ordered to join in the pursuit with the greater 
part of his Germans. General Fraser continued the 
pursuit through the day, and having received intel- 
Hgence that the rear of the American army was at 
no great distance, ordered his men to He that night 
upon their arms. On July seventh, at five in the 
morning, he came up with Colonel Warner, who had 
about one thousand men. The British advanced 
boldly to the attack, and the two bodies formed within 
sixty yards of each other. The conflict was fierce 
and bloody. Colonel Francis fell at the head of his 
regiment, fighting with great gallantry. Warner 
was so well supported by his officers and men, that 
the assailants broke and gave way. They soon, how- 
ever, recovered from their disorder, formed again and 
charged the Americans with the bayonet, when they, 
in their turn, were put into disorder; these, however, 
rallied and returned to the charge, and the issue of 
the battle became dubious. At that moment General 
Riedesel appeared with the advance party of his Ger- 
mans. These being led into action, soon decided the 
fortune of the day, and the Americans had to retreat. 
The loss, in this action, was very considerable on the 
American side. Colonel Hale, who had not brought 
his regiment, which consisted of militia, into action, 
although ordered so to do, in attempting to escape 
by flight, fell in with an inconsiderable party of the 
enemy, and surrendered himself, and a number of his 
men, prisoners. In killed, wounded, and prisoners, 
the Americans lost in this action three hundred and 



244 Retreat of the Americans 

twenty-four men, and the British one hundred and 
eighty-three in killed and wounded. 

" Confiding in General Fraser to conduct the pur- 
suit of the Americans by land, General Burgoyne 
undertook to direct the chase by water. The boom, 
and other obstructions to the navigation of the lake, 
not being completed, were soon cut through; and so 
engaged were the British in this business, that by 
nine o'clock in the morning the gun-boats, the Royal 
George and Infleocible frigates had passed the works. 
Several regiments embarked aboard the vessels and 
transports, and the pursuit was pushed with such 
vigor, that by three in the afternoon, the foremost 
brigade of gun-boats overtook and engaged with the 
American galleys near Skenesboro (Whitehall). 
Upon the approach of the frigates, all opposition 
ceased; two of the galleys were taken, and the other 
three blown up. The Americans, not being in suffi- 
cient force to make a stand, set fire to the bateaux, 
mills, fort, and works, and retired tow^ards Fort Ann, 
w^here they were joined by a detachment which had 
been sent by General Schuyler from Fort Edward. 
This party of Americans was commanded by Colonel 
Long. In the meantime. Colonel Hill w^as detached 
by General Burgoyne, with the ninth regiment, to- 
wards Fort Ann; he was attacked by the Americans 
under Colonel Long, in front, with a heavy and well- 
directed fire; while another party was preparing to 
fall on the rear. Colonel Hill, aware of his danger, 
retired to a hill to prevent being surrounded, and in 
this situation was vigorously attacked by such num- 




C3 
O 



e-i 



Retreat of the Americans 245 

bers, that he was in danger of being cut to pieces. 
At this critical juncture, a reinforcement arrived, 
which rendered it necessary for Colonel Long to 
retire. On leaving Fort Ann, he set fire to the works 
and made good his retreat to Fort Edward. 

General St. Clair received intelligence of the dis- 
aster at Skenesboro, about the same time that news 
came to him of Warner's defeat. To avoid the 
enemj^ it was now necessary for him to change his 
route, and he sent orders to Colonel Warner, to join 
him at Rutland. Here he fell in with many soldiers, 
who had been separated from the army, and two days 
afterwards he was joined by Colonel Warner, at the 
head of about ninety men. After despatching officers 
to Bennington and other places, to stop and collect 
the stragglers, he proceeded to join General Schuyler 
at Fort Edward. 

" The loss sustained by the Americans, in their re- 
treat from Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, 
was very heavy — one hundred and twenty-eight 
pieces of cannon, 349,760 pounds of flour, 143,830 
pounds of salt provisions, a large drove of cattle, and 
their bateaux, vessels, and magazines." 

While Burgoyne was pressing south towards Al- 
bany, General Lincoln attempted to recover Ticon- 
deroga and other posts in the rear of the invaders. 
On September 13, 1777, he detailed Colonel John 
Brown with five hundred men for that purpose. 
Brown captured all of the British outposts between 
the landing place at the north end of Lake George 
and the main fortress at Ticonderoga. Mount Hope, 



246 Colonel John Brown 

Mount Defiance, the French lines and a block-house, 
with an armed sloop, two hundred bateaux, several 
gun-boats, fell into his hands. He also captured two 
hundred and ninety-three prisoners and released one 
hundred American prisoners. He then attacked the 
main fortress, but, its walls proving impregnable to 
his guns, he withdrew and sailed up the lake to Dia- 
mond Island, which he attacked and from which he 
was repulsed, as told before. 

After the defeat of General Burgoyne at Saratoga 
the British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga retreated to 
Canada, but in 1780 it was occupied again by the 
British General Haldiman for a short period; but 
the last battle had been fought around that old war- 
stained fortress. 




1^ 



CHAPTER XIX 

TICONDEROGA, 1689-1 75 8~TIC0NDER0GA TO-DAY 

WHEN an Indian name is given to a town, river, 
or lake almost the first question asked is, 
" What is its definition, what does it signify in the 
Indian language?" 

There are so many names that are beautiful, that 
have a meaning which is poetical, that we are apt to 
expect a poetic meaning in all Indian names. Many, 
however, have definitions that are strictly European, 
the Indian meaning having been lost. 

The word Ti-con-de-ro-ga is one of them. It is 
said to mean " brawling waters " or " falling waters." 
This is strictly white man's Indian. It is true that 
the falls in the vicinity have suggested the French 
term " Carillon," but we do not hear of this name 
until after 1750, whereas Major Peter Schuyler in 
July, 1691, gives the name as Chinanderoga and 
Cheonderoga. The Hollanders wrote Indian words 
as they sounded to them when pronounced by the 
Mohawks. The spelling of the word in 1755 seems 
to have been Te-con-der-o-ga, which would conform 
to the pronunciation of the word as written by Major 
Schuyler. Horatio Hale and E. M. Ruttenber state 
that the word means, " between two lakes"; Ruttenber 

247 



248 Ticonderoga 

also gives the definition of another Mohawk name, 
which was applied to the first Mohawk castle or vil- 
lage, Ti-on-on-de-ro-ga, which, being from the same 
root, means " between two mountains " or in a valley. 

In Major Peter Schuyler's journal of his expedi- 
tion to Canada in 1691, we find the following para- 
graph: "July 16, 1691, three of our canoes being 
broken, I sent three Christians and one Indian to the 
end of Lake Sackraman, where our Mohawks are 
making canoes, to acquaint them that I will meet 
them at Chinanderoga. July 19, 1691, we broke 
up from Chinanderoga, and advanced to the Crown 
Point, twenty miles distant." 

Carillon, a French word meaning chimes or bells 
was, for a brief period, applied to the original en- 
trenchments at this point (1755-56). A little later 
we have Fort Vaudreuil, named for the Governor 
of Montreal, Marquis Philip Rigaud Vaudreuil, 
who caused the fortification to be constructed by 
Lotbiniere, a French engineer. 

In February, 1756, Vaudreuil writes that in order 
to defend Fort St. Frederic at Crown Point, he 
was busy in fortifying the post of " Carillon." " Al- 
ready twelve cannon, eight swivels, and four hand- 
grenade mortars are there; since the close of May, 
two thousand men were stationed there." Vau- 
dreuil also reports that he had taken possession of 
the " little carrying place of Lake Sacrament," 
which he had secured by a strong entrenchment very 
well situated and flanked by two bastions and con- 
taining six hundred and seventy men (Fort Vau- 







. — O 



> 


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P5 


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Ti 


CJ 


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X ^ 






=«-H 5 






Ticonderoga 249 

dreuil) . He had also established a post between Fort 
Carillon and this entrenchment to facilitate, in case 
of necessity, the retreat of the camp at the carrying 
place and to keep it open. This is probably a 
reference to the earthworks now known as the old 
French entrenchment. 

The following is a description of Fort Carillon in 
1758, by Engineer-in-Chief Pont le Roy: 

" This fort is built on a rock on the left bank of 
the river of the Falls, commanding its outlet into the 
lake. It is an irregular square, the long sides of 
which are fifty-four toises (a toise is about six feet) ; 
its lining (revetment) consists of squared pieces of 
oak laid one on the other, bound by travesines (tran- 
soms) ; its periphery is pierced with embrasures lined 
with oak timber and directed towards different parts 
of the exterior ground. Only one or two guns can 
be opposed from the fort against all the batteries 
constructed by the enemy. 

" The ramparts are but fourteen feet wide, and the 
platforms consequently^ so short that the recoil at 
each discharge makes the gun run off. 

" The bastions are casemated and serve as bakery, 
cistern, powder magazine, and provisions. The case- 
mate under the curtain of the entrance, which may 
serve to lodge the garrison, is only twelve feet wide 
by six feet high, extremely damp, the roof consisting 
of beams laid side by side covered with four or five 
feet of earth. 

" The place of arms is only one hundred feet long 
by fifty feet wide. 



250 Ticonderoga 

*' The foundation is solid rock, the buildings for 
civilians are of stone and two stories high. The roofs 
overtop entirely the parapets of the rampart. The 
shot and shell directed against these buildings would 
prevent, by their explosion, the appearance of the 
garrison either on the place of arms or on the rampart. 

" The great number of embrasures exclude the use 
of musketry, the only means, nevertheless, of defend- 
ing the place. 

" All the storehouses and sheds necessary for the 
use of the garrison are outside the place, encircled by 
a palisade." 

The engineer remarks : " It will be seen how little 
susceptible of defence this fort is. Yet it is the only 
work that covers Lake Champlain, and consequently 
the colony of New France. Were I entrusted wath 
the siege of it, I should require only six mortars and 
two cannon." 

This fort was never able to successfully resist at- 
tack, except in the disastrous repulse of General 
Abercrombie. In this case, however, it was not the 
fort itself that prevented the success of the British 
troops, but the terrible abatis and the foolhardiness 
of an incompetent commander. 

Just what means General Amherst used to 
strengthen Fort Ticonderoga after its evacuation by 
the French in 1759, I have been unable to ascertain. 
But it is probable that he used the same material 
from which it was constructed, that is, timber and 
earth. It will be remembered that he did not occupy it 
long, as he at once followed the French, under Bour- 



Fort Amherst — Crown Point 251 

lemarque, to Crown Point, and from thence to Isle 
aux Noix and subsequently to Canada. 

However, in the meantime, Amherst occupied 
Crown Point and proceeded to erect fortifications at 
that spot (this occurred in 1759), and the works were 
named Fort Amherst. The walls of Fort Amlierst 
were w^ood and earth, twenty-two feet thick and six- 
teen feet high, with a core of masonry four feet thick 
and twelve feet high. It was about fifteen hundred 
yards square, and surrounded by a deep and broad 
ditch, cut in solid rock, with immense labor; on the 
north was a double row of stone barracks, of a 
capacity to contain two thousand troops. 

On the north was a gate and a strong drawbridge, 
and a covered way to the water of the lake. The 
whole is now in ruins, and the outworks, of which 
there were some pretty extensive ones, are little else 
than a heap of i*uins. The remains of some of the 
stone barracks are quite extensive and should be 
preserved from further decay. 

An idea of the dilapidated condition at these parts 
may be derived from the fact that on the 29th of 
September, 1773, Governor Tryon desiring General 
Haldiman to station two hundred men at Ticonde- 
roga and Crown Point, as a protection against the 
New Hampshire rioters ( ?) , the latter reported that 
the state of the buildings at those places was such 
" that they can't give cover to more than fifty men." 

Standing on the dock at Baldwin, waiting, in the 
noonday sun, for the steamer from the south, I was 



252 Prisoner's Island 

struck with the fact that the great majority of the 
tourists who throng Lake George and Lake Cham- 
plain steamers, during the recreation season, take 
their pleasures in a perfunctory way, gathering their 
scraps of history from guide-books, and are not at 
all impressed by the evidences of historic events and 
localities through which they are passing. 

I enquired of two or three gentlemen, " which of 
the islands in the immediate vicinity of the dock is 
Prisoner's Island ? " They had never heard of it. 
I also asked if they knew the location of " Howe's 
Landing." It had no meaning to them. A native 
pointed out the little island about three hundred feet 
away, near the creek which is the outlet of Lake 
George, opposite to which on the west bank is 
" Howe's Landing." You will remember the story of 
this little island barely one hundred feet in circum- 
ference. How, during the French War, English 
prisoners captured by the French were marooned on 
the island for security. A small guard was left in 
charge of them, and as soon as the main body of 
the French had retreated the English prisoners waded 
ashore from the island and escaped, the French not 
being aware that from one side of the island it was 
easily fordable. 

While waiting for the steamer, I recalled to mind 
the story of the landing of the van of Abercrombie's 
army under Lord Howe. The distance from the 
steamboat landing to Fort Ticonderoga is four miles, 
while two miles down the outlet, near the upper falls, 
the French troops had their first entrenchments. 




a 
o 



o 
p 



o 



Howe's Landing 253 

Where now is seen pasture lands and cultivated 
fields, with sloping meadows and rounded hills, were 
dense forests of mammoth pines and tangled under- 
brush. 

To the south floated a myriad of boats and bateaux 
containing the dense mass of Abercrombie's army of 
fifteen thousand men with artillery, siege guns, and 
supplies. An insistent murmur of voices filled the 
air, broken occasionally by the sharp notes of com- 
mand. The van having debarked, and with Rogers's 
rangers, with whom were Rogers, Putnam, and Stark, 
and Lord Howe, leading these intrepid soldiers, 
plunged into the forest interspersed with ravines 
offering ambush on every side. 

A few days ago I read a description of Lord 
Abercrombie at this period : '" A heavy man, an aged 
gentleman, infirm in body and mind," and yet the 
General was only fifty-two years old. 

At the upper falls were entrenchments defending 
the carrying place, also a road a mile and a half long 
leading to the lower falls, thereby avoiding rapids 
and a bend in the creek. This fortification at the 
upper falls was probably called Fort Vaudreuil for 
a brief period. Fort Ticonderoga was located a mile 
below at the lower falls, which now marks the centre 
of the thriving village of Ticonderoga. 

Avoiding this carry, the rangers turned towards 
the northwest to the valley of Trout Brook, near its 
junction with Ticonderoga Creek, their ultimate ob- 
ject being to surround the fort which is located on 
a peninsula a hundred feet above Lake Champlain. 



2 54 Black Watch 

Within a mile north of the fort, crossed by the pres- 
ent road to Fort Ti, may yet be seen the old French 
entrenchments, as they are called. To the south of 
the road the breastworks may be plainly traced 
through the forest growths that now cover the slope 
of the hill, where the brave Black Watch charged 
and died in their vain attempt to surmount the terri- 
ble abatis, where " they could not go forward and 
would not go back.'* The place where those brave 
Scots were buried, a little to the south of the en- 
trenchments, is still shown to tourists. 

Following the road to the fort, we were allowed 
to inspect the effort made by Mrs, Stephen H. P. 
Pell to restore this historic fortress so that it might 
present the appearance it had when Ethan Allen de- 
manded its surrender in the name of the " Great 
Jehovah and the Continental Congress." 

Recently I have found the iconoclast at work 
in a place I least expected, that is in Vermont. 
From a great-grandfather through a grandfather, 
father, and son, we are told that as Ethan Allen 
was an infidel he could not have used the term, 
" Great Jehovah." What he did say, says the icono- 
clast is: "In the name of the Continental Congress 

I demand the surrender of this fort, and by G , 

I will have it." I can imagine the bones of the brave 
Green Mountain Boys shaking in their graves at this 
attempt to destroy one of their most cherished 
traditions. 

After an afternoon spent on the heights of Fort 
Ticonderoga and a visit to the Grenadier Battery 



Black Watch 255 

on the extreme edge of the southeast comer of a 
precipitous bluff (which was built to correct an error 
made by the builder of Fort Carillon)/ we returned 
to our hotel. 

Near the French entrenchment I noticed a tele- 
phone line of five wires. At that moment a flock of 
about a dozen swallows settled on the line, some on 
each wire, which made it resemble a bar of music, 
each bird a note. Calling the Professor's attention 
to it I asked him if he could sing it. " Why," said 
he, "it is Old Hundred" but when he attempted to 
sing, the birds flew away. 

To the left of the Grenadier Battery, but on the 
shore of the lake and exhibited on the grounds of 
Mrs. Pell is all that remains of another of General 
Benedict Arnold's war vessels, the Revenge, the hull 
being fairly well preserved. 

After a night of restful slumber from nine p.m. to 
seven a.m. we were again ready for exploration. Fol- 
lowing the Ticonderoga Creek south to the outskirts of 
the village, after about ten minutes' walking, we came 
to its junction with Trout Brook, and presumably 
walked over the spot where Lord Howe met his death. 
In a southern direction we saw the gap between 
Mount Defiance and Cooks Mountain, marking the 
valley of Lake George about a mile away, while to 
the east Mount Defiance with its extended crest 

1 It is said that the fort was not built large enough to command 
the mouth of the creek, thereby allowing an enemy's barges, etc., 
to enter the creek without being molested by the guns of the 
entrenchments, hence the Grenadier Battery was erected. 



256 Trout Brook 

loomed up, its precipitous slope sombre with trees of 
evergreen and rocks of granite, and in the foreground 
hillocks symmetrically rounded by glacial floods 
bounded the tortuous sluggish flow of historic Trout 
Brook of insignificant width. We were quite im- 
pressed with a well-worn trail along its banks and 
dreamily pictured half-clad Mohawks or Algonquins 
with moccasin tread and with bloody scalps pendant 
from their belts, silently and in single file following its 
course to Lake St. Sacrement, and awoke suddenly to 
find that it was nothing but a prosaic cow-path we 
were following. 

I shall not attempt to describe the original nor the 
present condition of the ruins of Fort Ticonderoga as 
they are being restored, whatever that may mean, 
but will trust that the reader will be satisfied with 
the numerous illustrations herewith introduced. 

Returning to our hotel for a little rest and refresh- 
ment, we afterwards climbed the slope of JNIount 
Hope as the sun declined and the shadows deepened, 
and found the crown of the hill occupied by a ceme- 
tery. In the gathering gloom we passed into an ad- 
joining field over a primitive stile where we saw the 
entrenchment thrown up by General Burgoyne when 
he took possession of the hill, July 2, 1777. Mount 
Hope, two miles from the fortress and about one mile 
from the old French lines, was not a menace to the 
Americans at the fort at Ticonderoga, but as a 
strategic point it was of great value to Burgoyne, 
for it commanded the road to Lake George and was 
a strong position if attacked, as the liill is protected 




o 

O 



ai 



Mount Hope 257 

by a sheer precipice, which drops down one hundred 
feet to the plain below. 

From the hill, looking towards the east, one 
sees the ravine of Ticonderoga Creek, which, by 
falls and rapids, drops two hundred and ten feet 
to the level of Lake Champlain in about four 
miles. 

The Professor took a photograph of the ravine 
from Mount Hope, showing Lake Champlain in the 
distance, the promontory of Ticonderoga on the left. 
Fort Defiance on the right, and the heights of 
Mount Independence on the lake. The gloom of 
the woods was intense and not at all suited to pho- 
tography, but the picture is certainly a success, 
artistically. 

A story was told us as we came down the moun- 
tain. A meeting was being held by a labor union 
whose president was more noted for his zeal than 
knowledge. A question had arisen in regard to the 
form of a previous resolution. The president had 
just read the resolution, as copied from the minutes, 
when a member arose and said: "Mr. President, is 
that a facsimile of the resolution? " "No," said Presi- 
dent Joe, " this is none of your fact simalurs, this is 
an exact copy." 

Of course this reminded one of the party of a story. 
" Some of the stunts done by the telephone are quite 
amusing," he began. " A funeral had been held at 
a small place near by. One of the family wished 
that the hymns sung should be noticed. The office 
of the daily paper was called up, and was told that 



258 Mount Hope 

two hymns had been sung, Abide with Me and 
Asleep in Jesus. The next day the notice appeared 
as follows : * The hymns sung at the funeral of 
Miss were Abide with Me and Sleeping Jesus/ " 



CHAPTER XX 

STORY OF OLD BILL HARRIS — BAYS WITHIN BAYS 

OITTING under the shadow of the colonnade of the 
^ Fort William Henry Hotel and looking north 
over the blue waters of Lake George, the tourist, on 
his first visit from the south, is apt to rest content while 
the eye absorbs and the brain digests the beauty of 
the view spread out before him. Three miles away 
the diminutive wooded Isle of Diamonds seems to 
float on the waters midway from shore. Another 
mile beyond lies Long Island, in close proximity with 
a long narrow peninsula, at the extreme north end 
of which is located Assembly Point, forming the west 
shore of Harris Bay. 

Somewhere on the shore of this bay, during the 
War of the Revolution, was the home of a family 
of patriotic Americans whose name was Harris; 
Moses Harris the elder and his stalwart son William, 
for whom this bay was named. At the extreme 
south end of this bay is a cluster of islands which 
is named on the map " Happy Family Islands." 

At the present writing my thoughts are not 
turned particularly to this beauty spot, but to the 
family of Harris, and their physical sufferings, 
and doughty deeds of daring. From Dr. A. W. 

259 



26o Old Bill Harris 

Holden's Queenshury I have garnered a num- 
ber of interesting incidents pertaining to this 
family. 

During the raid of Major Christopher Carleton 
in July, 1780, whose force consisted of eight hundred 
British regulars, two hundred Tories, and one hun- 
dred seventy-five Indians, Fort Ann and Fort 
George were destroyed, many outlying settlements 
burned, and many prisoners taken. 

Among the prisoners were JMoses and William 
Harris,who with sixteen others were compelled to walk 
with feet bare along the west bank of Lake George, 
over the Indian trail to a point on Lake Champlain, 
where the party embarked in boats and bateaux. It 
would seem from the context, that this party was 
conveyed down Lake Champlain, and the Richelieu 
and St. Lawrence rivers, to Quebec, where they were 
imprisoned on an island, and guarded by a patrol of 
soldiers. 

With the coming of spring, after many months' 
seclusion, the yearning for home obsessed them, and 
nostalgia becoming epidemic, a plan for escape was 
formed, which resulted in seven of the party seizing 
a boat which daily brought them provisions from the 
mainland. In the meantime the conspirators had 
accumulated about three daj^s' rations. By means of 
this boat they reached the mainland, and entered into 
the vast wilderness on the south shore of the St. Law- 
rence. Bill Harris, being an expert woodsman, took 
command and boldly plunged into the forest, pur- 
suing his way southward with but little rest day or 



Old Bill Harris 261 

night, and with scant refreshment, it being necessary 
for them to husband their slender stock of provi- 
sions, as they were many hundreds of miles from their 
home. Their provisions soon gave out, and they were 
obliged to depend on such chance fare as the forest 
afforded. 

At length utterly worn out with fatigue and loss 
of sleep, and the intolerable annoyance of flies and 
mosquitoes, a fire was built producing a smudge of 
smoke, and under its protection the whole party was 
soon sound asleep. 

About midnight they were aroused by a volley of 
musketry, by which one of the party was killed and 
two others badly wounded. Harris, who was of Her- 
culean proportions and strength and of great activity, 
arose in time to parry a blow from a tomahawk, which 
was aimed by a gigantic savage at one of his com- 
panions. The Indian immediately grappled with him, 
and after a struggle for some minutes Harris suc- 
ceeded in throwing him upon the now blazing fire, 
putting one of his feet on his foe's neck and pressing 
his head among the glowing fagots. At this junc- 
ture a Tory by the name of Cyrenus Parks, a near 
neighbor and former friend before the war, threat- 
ening him with a clubbed musket, ordered him to 
release the savage. This he refused to do, and as 
Parks drew back to strike him, Harris exclaimed 
*' you won't kill an unarmed man, a neighbor too? " 
Parks made no reply and the blow descended. 
Harris interposed his arm, which was broken by the 
force of the blow which also, falling on his head, cut 



262 Old Bill Harris 

the scalp frightfully and laid him stunned at the feet 
of the Tory. 

Harris remained insensible for many hours, and 
when at last he awoke to consciousness, he found that 
he had been hit on the other side of his head by a 
tomahawk, presumably by his Indian antagonist, that 
he had two wounds upon his forehead, and a bayonet 
thrust in the chest, and had probably been left for 
dead. All of his companions were gone, together 
with his shoes, coat, and knapsack. 

Staggering to his feet he went to a near-by stream, 
bathed and dressed his wounds as well as circum- 
stances would admit, and making a sling of his neck 
handkerchief, maimed and crippled, he painfully 
resumed his journey to his distant home. 

Edible roots and berries, the bark and buds of trees 
were his only food, except an occasional frog eaten 
raw. At length he came out on the bank of a stream, 
and while looking for material for a rude raft, he 
caught sight of two men cautiously watching him from 
a distance above. Thinking they were enemies, he 
withdrew into the thicket. 

After waiting some time, and reflecting on the fact 
that renewed captivity could be no worse than his 
present situation, he resolved to advance and give 
himself up. Stepping boldly out in the open, he 
beckoned to them to approach, when to his great joy 
he found them to be two Dutchmen from the Mohawk 
Valley, former comrades of his in his captivity, who 
had escaped during the attack on their camp. They 
cleansed and dressed his wounds, bound up his arm 



Old Bill Harris 263 

with rude bark splints, and set about constructing a 
raft to cross the stream. Fortunately Harris had 
a hook and line in his pocket, and coming to a forest 
stream they encamped, caught a fine string of trout, 
which they cooked in backwoodsman style, and ate 
with the appetites of starving men. 

Continuing their journey they came, after some 
days' travel, upon a clearing and log house. One 
of the three cautiously approached the hut, begging 
for bread. The woman was French and they soon 
found out that they were still in Canada, and many 
weary miles from home. 

It was after many more days of painful wander- 
ings that they at last came to a small town on the 
Connecticut River, where Harris's wounds were prop- 
erly dressed. A few more days of travel and he 
reached his home on Lake George, weary and foot- 
sore. Although from that time he received intelli- 
gent care, his wounds were a long time healing. 
Even after his recovery he was so infirm that he could 
only serve in the reserve militia until the close of the 
war. 

But what became of Cyrenus? 

It is said that he had a brother Joseph, who, after 
the war lived on his brother's place, near neighbor to 
William Harris. Both being Whigs and patriots, 
they became friends. One day Joseph called on Wil- 
liam and being in great good humor, the two had a 
jolly time telling stories and recalling scenes of 
their childhood. At last Joseph led the conversation 
up to the brother Cyrenus, and asked William 



264 Old Bill Harris 

if he would not overlook the past and forgive his 
brother, Cyrenus Parks, if the latter would make suit- 
able acknowledgment and ask forgiveness. Spring- 
ing to his feet in a tempest of rage, the old scout 
rephed with an oath : " Xo, he tried to kill me in 
cold blood, and if I ever get a chance, I '11 shoot him. 
Joseph, Cyrenus is at your house, and if he wants 
to live he must keep out of my way." 

The next night Cyrenus escaped to Canada. The 
popular tradition that Harris tracked him to the St. 
Lawrence and shot liim as he was crossing that 
stream is declared by the family to be untrue. 

It is told that an Indian medicine man, on his usual 
romids gathering herbs for his simple remedies, called 
at the home of Old Bill Harris. Harris's children, 
who inherited their father's antipathy for the aborigi- 
nes, insulted the medicine man with blackguard and 
missives, until he lost all patience and threatened to 
tomahawk them. His menace, though intended only 
to frighten them, was enough for Old Bill, who seized 
his rifle, followed the unsuspecting medicine man to the 
forest, shot him through the head, and sank his body 
in a deep sluggish brook which fomid its way through 
the middle of a morass. 

Rumors of the murder of the doctor having reached 
his tribe in Canada, a stalwart Indian was sent to 
Lake George to retaliate by the killing of Harris. 

This emissary, with true Indian cunning, lurked 
about Harris Hollow for a number of days without 
revealing himself to any one, lest his presence should 
excite suspicion and put his vrWy enemy on guard. 



Old Bill Harris 265 

At last seeing a single man hoeing corn in the clear- 
ing near the place of his concealment, he approached 
him and civilly requested that he direct him to Harris's 
cabin. The Indian had never seen the backwoods- 
man, and knew not that he was talking to the famous 
scout himself. Harris scented danger at once and, 
being unarmed, except with his farm implement, used 
a little diplomacy in order to circumvent the savage, 
who was armed with knife and tomahawk, and 
evidently a man of great strength and activity. 

With a keen sense of his own danger, and with 
his characteristic coolness, he replied, " Harris is a 
neighbor of mine, he lives about two miles away by 
the road, but I can show j'^ou a short cut through 
the woods, if you will wait until I finish hoeing this 
row." While leisurely completing his work he laid 
his plans, and shouldering his hoe, led the way into 
the adjoining woods. Sometimes walking in front, 
again in the rear of the Indian, they made their way 
into the depths of the forest, when, watching a favor- 
able opportunity, Harris struck his unsuspecting foe 
a murderous blow on the head with his hoe, which 
felled him to the ground, where the son of the forest 
was quickly killed, and as quickly buried, and Harris 
returned to his home in moody silence. Harris 
Hollow was thenceforth unmolested, but the pro- 
prietor lived to rehearse the tale to a good old age. 

One more story about this pioneer of Lake George. 
It is said that in Harris Bay he meted out border 
justice to eight Indians who had been despatched by 
their tribe to waylay and kill him, in revenge for 



266 Old Bill Harris 

some of his many ruthless acts, for if half that is 
told of him is true, he had as little compunction in 
killing an Indian as in shooting a wolf. These In- 
dians had been lurking in the swamps and woods of 
the neighborhood for some days, watching patiently 
an opportunity for his capture. 

The size of the party would seem to indicate a de- 
sire to make a prisoner of him instead of killing him 
stealthily. The stake, the fire, the gauntlet, the slow 
torture, the scalping, the mutilation, all of these they 
desired to inflict upon the man who had ruthlessly 
killed their brothers. 

Finally he learned, either by observation or through 
the kind offices of a neighbor, that they were all out 
on the lake fishing. He immediately hurried around 
to his friends in the neighborhood, and borrowed their 
muskets or rifles to the number of eight, which, after 
loading them, he secreted behind a log near the shore 
of the lake. He then exhibited himself to them with 
derisive and contemptuous gestures, when they all 
swiftly plied the paddles of their canoes for the shore 
to take him. As they came within range of his guns, 
he deliberately shot one after another until they were 
all killed. It is said that no more attempts were 
made by the Indians to kill Old Bill Harris, as they 
came to the conclusion that he bore a charmed life. 

One would think that he was a fit companion to 
his Dutch neighbor Van Wormer, who boasted that 
he had "killed his twenties" (q. v.). 

Bolton Bay is set down on the map as the 



Bay of Bays 267 

" Huddle," but six miles south on the east side of 
the lake, is a locality which might well be called the 
*' Huddle " also. At Bolton we have a huddle of 
islands but east of Long Island we have a " huddle 
of bays." 

Bays within bays. Earlier maps give the name of 
Van Wormer's Bay to this locality, but maps of the 
geological survey divide it into Harris, Dunham, 
JNIiddle, Echo, Dark, Sandy, and Van Wormer bays, 
while morasses and lowlands, between French Moun- 
tain and Pilot Knob, mark the course of the outlet 
of the lake to the Hudson Valley during the post- 
glacial period. A settled portion, with its many small 
hotels and boarding houses, also bears the name of 
Kattskill Bay. 

It has always been my fortune to visit (from the 
steamer) this bay of bays, in the brilliant sunshine 
of an August day. From Lake George village the 
course of the steamer is as straight as an arrow to 
Assembly Point, which just escapes being an island 
by a narrow natural causeway which connects it with 
the eastern shore; the route passes by Dunham Baj^ 
tucked away under the shadow of Burnt Hill and 
Joshua Rock, on which is situated the home of the 
late Edward Eggleston, the author of the Hoosier 
Schoolmaster, etc.; it rounds Ripley Point to Clever- 
dale, again with a curve to the Sheldon House at 
Sheldon Point; and then crosses the bay to a group 
of hotels and cottages under the frowning height of 
Pilot Knob, vying with Buck IMountain in grandeur 
and picturesque beaut3^ Indeed it would be hard to 



268 Bay of Bays 

tell where Pilot Knob ends and Buck Mountain be- 
gins, except for the towering peak, of 2334 feet, of 
pine-clad Buck. 

From Sheldon House the boat crosses an inner bay 
called, now. Van Wormer Bay, passing by Grove 
Hotel, Trout Pavilion, Kattskill Hotel, the De Long, 
Stevens, and Rupert cottages, and from that point 
in a straight line two and a half miles long across the 
lake to the Marion. 

In passing around Kattskill Bay, each landing is 
greeted by groups of summer boarders in all styles 
of free and easy costumes, with gay laughter and 
joyous repartee. If any passenger does not dis- 
play a responsive smile, at the evident happiness of 
those j^outhful groups, you may set him down as fit 
for " treasons, stratagems, and spoils." 

Some one has said that any old costume is correct 
at summer resorts, the line being drawn at hoop 
skirts and pantalets. This seems to apply to Katts- 
kill Bay, and in fact to the shore of Lake George. 
A photograph is shown of marshes at the head of 
Dunham Bay, the post-glacial outlet of Lake George. 
Another, is a view across this bay looking west be- 
tween Joshua Rock and Assembly Point. Diamond 
Island is visible in the opening with mountain peaks 
west of Bolton. Another photograph shows the road 
running south from Crosby side giving the head of 
the lake and Prospect Mountain from an unusual 
point of view. At Lake George village the Church 
of the Sacred Heart and its burying ground mark 
a spot within the old French lines occupied by JVIont- 



Bay of Bays 269 

calm in 1757 during the siege of Fort William Henry. 
Also a view of Montcalm Bay and Artillery Cove, 
marking the landing of the French troops, well out 
of sight of the doomed garrison at the fort. 



CHAPTER XXI 

GENERAL JOHN BURGOYNE 

pERHAPS there is no English general, who com- 
* manded British troops in America during the 
War of Revolution, whose name is better known in 
northern and western New York than General John 
Burgoyne, whose name is inseparably connected with 
the battle of Saratoga. 

Sir John Burgoyne was born in 1723, and was fifty- 
two years of age when, in the spring of 1775, he came 
to America. It is said that he took part in the battle 
of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, having in charge a 
battery of long-range siege guns. In December, 

1776, he returned to England, and was commissioned 
lieutenant-general and placed in command of the 
British forces in Canada, where he arrived early in 

1777. In June of the last named year he began an 
invasion of the province of New York by the way 
of Lake Champlain. Previous to this, however. Gen- 
eral Sir Guy Carleton had appeared at the foot of 
Lake Champlain with thirteen hundred men. With 
this force he destroyed the flotilla of the Americans 
under General Arnold, captured Crown Point, which 
he abandoned after an occupation of twenty days, 
and returned to Canada. 

General Sir John Burgoyne left St. Jolms, on the 

270 



Burgoyne's Plan 271 

river Sorel, in June, 1777, with an army of eight 
thousand men in boats. At the falls on the Boquet 
River he met about four hundred Indians in council, 
and after a feast and a stirring appeal attached them 
to his army. 

It was at this time he issued his pompous and bom- 
bastic proclamation, beginning as follows: 

*' By John Burgoyne, Esquire, Lieutenant-General 
of his Majesty's forces in America, Colonel of the 
Queen's regiment of Light Dragoons, Governor of 
Fort William in North Britain, one of the Commons 
of Great Britain in Parliament, and commanding an 
army and fleet employed on an expedition from 
Canada, etc. 

" I have but to give stretch to the Indian forces 
under my direction, and they amount to thousands, 
to overtake the hardened enemies of Great Britain 
and America." 

On July first he appeared before Ticonderoga, 
which was inadequately garrisoned under command 
of General St. Clair (q. v.), who was compelled to 
evacuate. 

Burgoyne pressed forward almost unopposed, as 
the American forces were very weak. The latter re- 
treated first to Fort Edward, and then down the Hud- 
son nearly to Albany. A portion of St. Clair's forces 
were pursued by Generals Eraser and Riedesel, who 
overtook them at Hubbardton, where they were de- 
feated and dispersed. Burgoyne, however, advanced 
very slowly, being harassed by the Americans under 
General Philip Schuyler. 



272 General John Burgoyne 

An expedition sent out by Burgoyne to capture 
stores and cattle and procure horses for his troops in 
the vicinity of Bennington, Vermont, resulted in dis- 
aster to the British troops, which contributed mate- 
rially to their subsequent defeat and surrender at 
Saratoga. 

Burgoyne's plan for the capture of the province 
of New York was arranged in London, and would 
have been very simple and effective but for the check- 
ing of the British troops at Oriskany and Bennington. 

This plan provided for a force of four thousand 
British troops and three thousand Germans (to which 
were to be added some Canadians and a body of In- 
dians) to advance up Lake Champlain, the ultimate 
object being the city of Albany. An auxiliary 
force under Colonel St. Leger was to leave Mont- 
real and go to Oswego, and thence move on to join 
a body of Tories under Sir John Johnson and a body 
of Indians under command of Chief Brant, who 
were to clear the valley of the Mohawk and join 
Burgoyne and General Howe (who was to proceed 
up the Hudson) at Albany. 

How Colonel St. Leger was checked at Oriskany, 
how General Stark drove back Baum at Hoosic, and 
how General Lord Howe failed to come up the Hud- 
son are well known incidents of history, and need not 
be dw^elt upon at this time, but the arrogance and 
treachery of Burgoyne left a personal enemy in his 
rear, General Sir Guy Carleton, who, when requested 
by Burgoyne, refused to advance with three thousand 
British troops, to occupy Ticonderoga, and thereby 



The Surrendered Troops 273 

relieve Burgoj^ne of the care of that fort, and give 
him a needed support in his operations on the Hudson. 
If Burgoyne's jDlan had been successfully carried out, 
the success of Washington might have been deferred 
for years, and New York Province have become part 
of Canada. 

General Burgoyne is commonly believed to have 
been a natural son of Lord Bingley. While a subaltern 
in the army, he clandestinely married a daughter of the 
Earl of Derby. After the marriage, the Earl settled 
£300 a year upon him, and assisted him materially 
in attaining his subsequent promotions. 

After the surrender of the British forces at Sara- 
toga, Burgoyne went to England on his parole in 
May, 1778. He died in London in 1792. 

The experience of the surrendered troops is singular 
and a unique instance in the military annals of the 
United States. The vanquished troops made prison- 
ers by a " convention " for the surrender of them, 
made by Gates and Burgoyne, were marched through 
New England to Cambridge, near Boston, to be em- 
barked for Europe. The Congress had ratified the 
agreement that they should depart, on giving their 
parole not to serve again in arms against the Ameri- 
cans. Circumstances soon occurred that convinced 
Washington that Burgoyne and his troops intended 
to violate the agreement at the first opportunity, 
and it was resolved by the Congress not to allow them 
to leave the country until the British Government 
should ratify the terms of the capitulation. Here 
was a dilemma. That government would not recog- 



2 74 General John Burgoyne 

nize the authority of the Congress as a lawful body; 
so the troops were allowed to remain in idleness in 
America for four or five years. Burgoyne alone was 
allowed to go home on his parole. 

The British ministry charged the Congress with 
absolute perfidy; the latter retorted, and justified 
their acts by charging the ministry with " meditated " 
perfidy. 

Owing to the difficulty of finding an adequate sup- 
ply of food for the captive troops in New England, 
the Congress finally determined to send them to 
Virginia. Commissioners sent over in the spring of 
1778, to tender a scheme of reconciliation, offered a 
ratification of the " convention " signed by them- 
selves ; but the Congress would recognize no authority 
inferior to the British ministry for such an act. 
Finally in pursuance of a resolution of Congress, 
October 15, 1778, the whole body of captives (four 
thousand in number) English and German, after the 
officers had signed a parole of honor respecting their 
conduct on the way, took up their line of march 
early in November, for Charlottesville, Virginia, un- 
der the command of Major-General Phillips. It was 
a dreary winter's journey of seven hundred miles 
through New England, New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The routes 
of the two nationalities were sometimes distant from 
each other, and sometimes the same, until they reached 
Valley Forge, when they went in the same fine until 
they crossed the Potomac River. 

They remained in Virginia until October, 1780, 




5o 



w 



o 






The Surrendered Troops 275 

when the danger that the captives might rise against 
and overpower their guard caused the British to be 
removed to Fort Frederick in Maryland, and the 
Germans to Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley. 
Death, desertions, and partial exchanges had then re- 
duced their number to two thousand one hundred. 
Afterward they were removed in part to Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania, in part to East Windsor, Connecticut. 
In the course of 1782 they were all dispersed, either 
by exchanges or desertions. Many of the Germans, 
however, remained in America. 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE BLOODY TRAIL — THE IROQUOIS LEGEND OF THE 

MOSQUITO 

I HAVE made continued efforts to confine myself 
to my subject, Lakes George and Champlain, but 
am overwhelmed with such a mass of gruesome in- 
cidents on bloodj^ trails leading to and from the 
battle-fields of Lake Champlain, that I find myself 
continually straying from the subject in hand. 

Well may the waterways and the forest paths be 
called the " bloody trails," particularly that section 
of the country which constitutes the dividing line, or 
carrying place, between the upper Hudson and the 
upper end of Lake George. Many stories are told 
of incidents that have occurred in the vicinity of Fort 
Lydius — Lyman — Edward, as this fort of the wilder- 
ness has been variously named. 

The name Fort Lydius seems to have been given 
to a block -house erected on the notorious Dellius grant, 
which was subsequently vacated, and the Rev. God- 
frideus Dellius dismissed from the Dutch church at 
Albany. He returned to Holland, but whatever 
rights he had were transferred to John Henry Lydius, 
who erected the block-house, spoken of above, on a 

portion of the Dellius grant. 

276 



The Bloody Trail 277 

In 1755, General Lyman erected a fort at this post 
by order of Major-General Johnson, which for a 
brief period was called Fort Lyman, but was, during 
the same year, renamed Fort Edward by General 
Johnson. 

Vaudreuil, Governor of New France, describes it 
at follows: 

" What they [the English] are building at Lydius, 
are called storehouses, an entrepot, and not a fort. It 
is forty feet wide at one end, about twenty-five at 
the other, and seventy feet long. This house has an 
enclosure, formed by a ditch fourteen feet wide and 
eight feet deep. 

" The earth from the ditch is thrown upward toward 
the fort, and on this embankment, pickets twelve feet 
high are set up, inclining outward, that is to say, 
f raised. The house is constructed of square timber, 
one i^iece on each other. Eight cannon are in the 
field outside the unfinished enclosure; but one was 
mounted inside. Within the enclosure are twenty- 
four mortars. Twenty-five additional cannon were 
expected to arrive." 

This bloody trail really led from the St. Law- 
rence to the INIohawk River at Schenectady, and also 
to old Saratoga, at the mouth of Fish Creek. In 
1690 Schenectady was burned and many of the in- 
habitants massacred by the French and Praying In- 
dians, under Sieur La Moyne, and De Mantet; and 
old Saratoga was destroyed by Marin, November 
19, 1745, and thirty of the inhabitants killed and sixty 
carried away captives. The bloody trail radiated to 



278 The Bloody Trail 

Bennington, Hubbardton, and Saratoga. On it 
the beautiful Jane McCrea was murdered, and 
Colonel Ephraim Williams killed, while gallantly 
leading his men against the enemy, and many con- 
voj^s destroyed and escorts murdered and scalped by 
the Indians in the employ of the French. 

Mr. J. A. Holden of Glens Falls writes as follows : 

" It will be remembered that in the campaign of 
1755, Sir William Johnson had constructed a cor- 
duroy road from Fort Edward to Lake George, fol- 
lowing substantially the present highway between the 
two points. On every side was leafy covert or rugged 
eminence, suitable for ambuscade or hiding place of 
savage foe, or hardly less savage Canadians or French 
regulars. 

" Every rod of ground on this road is stained with 
the blood of the English, the colonists and their In- 
dian allies, the Iroquois, or that of their fierce and 
implacable enemies. Hardly a mile but what has 
its story of massacre, surprise, murder, deeds of dar- 
ing and heroism, or of duty performed under horrible 
and heart-rending circumstances." 

It seems that in order to protect this road, or as a 
sort of entrepot for both soldiers and teamsters and 
their convoys, a rude fortification, consisting of a 
block-house and stockade, was erected at a place 
called Half-Way Brook. This fortification was 
known, first as Fort Miller, and afterward (in 1759) 
as Fort Amherst. Even a large body of troops was 
not free from danger, as the wily savage would fol- 
low its course through the tangled thickets, and with 



Glacial 279 

devilish audacity cut off stragglers, killing and scalp- 
ing them, or carrying them to a secluded spot to 
practise their hellish tortures upon them. One of 
these secluded spots has come down to history under 
the name of the Blind Rock. 

In a paper on the noted Blind Rock, Dr. A. W. 
Holden says : " The Rock is one of numerous boul- 
ders that lie in the path of the diluvial drift, trending 
from the lofty Adirondack range to the valley of the 
Hudson. Its composition is gneiss." 

It is this reference to the Glacial or Post-Glacial 
Period that leads to thoughts " which be jumbles the 
senses and confounds the imagination." There are 
some things that we do not care to dwell upon; that 
are too large for our poor little brains; subjects that 
we have relegated to some out-of-the-way cell in our 
cranium, as unsolved and unsolvable: time, eternity, 
the beginning, the end, the celestial bodies, and the 
immensity of space. Scientists, however, think that 
our terrestrial globe is fair food for speculation, and 
have pictured to us the Adirondacks in the grasp of 
the Ice Monarch, ten thousand years ago. 

Sailing along the shores of Lake George, and un- 
der the shadows of its wooded mountains, I have 
attempted to grasp the thought of an ice cap a mile 
high, above its sylvaus waters. We are told that 
Black Mountain is 2665 feet high. Imagine if you 
can another mountain of the same height, on the top 
of its sombre peak, and you will get an idea of the 
ice level of this pigmy basin, during the Glacial 
Period. 



28o Post-Glacial 

And the silence of that white immensity! no sound 
but the boom of rending ice or swish of wind, no 
eye to see, no ear to hear; all of the colors of nature 
extinguished, except the glistening, prismatic tints 
of the frozen world. 

And then the Post-Glacial Period, with its torren- 
tial flow and the thundering avalanche denuding hill- 
sides and disiiapting mountains. It was then that 
the great Lake Iroquois, which comprised all of the 
Great Lakes whose waters now flow to the ocean 
through the St. Lawrence River, flowed through 
the 3Iohawk and lower Hudson valleys. Centuries, 
perhaps thousands of years afterwards, when the 
ice cap was melted from the upper St. Law- 
rence, but while the lower river and gulf was still 
in the grasp of the Ice King, the water from the 
Great Lakes flowed up the Richelieu and Champlain 
valleys, and the waters of the new lake, which has 
been named Lake St. Lawrence, found their waj" to 
the ocean through Lake Champlain, Lake George, 
and the upper Hudson valleys. 

If you will examine the maps of the Geological 
Survey of the Adirondack region, especially the 
Quadrangle of Caldwell, you will see that in this 
Post-Glacial Period we are speaking of, the waters 
of the Lake George basin must have flowed south 
through Van Wormer's Bay, and that by this route 
the gneiss boulder, called the Blind Rock, was carried 
by glacial or torrential floods to the place it now 
occupies. 

Situated in INIohawk territory. Blind Rock should 




Cfj 



zf. 



Blind Rock 281 

have an Indian name. Up to the present time I have 
been unable to ascertain what that name is. How- 
ever, it might well be called Ke-na-kwa-di-o-ne, an 
Iroquois name, meaning — " We are going to kill 
them." 

It is situated a yard or two from the route of the 
old military highway leading from Fort Edward to 
Fort William Henry, and about twenty-five rods 
east of the old plank road to Caldwell, or Lake 
George village, and about two and one half miles 
north of Glens Falls. It is stated bj'' some of the 
older inhabitants that the rock has a large cleft or 
crevice through the centre, caused by repeated fires 
built on it, and that within the last century over four 
feet of the rock was exposed to view; yet owing to 
erosion and corrasion, and the gradual wash from 
the hill above, only a small portion of the crown is 
visible to-day. 

According to various legends, this was a favorite 
place of encampment for the Indians, and was fre- 
quently the scene of torture and death of prisoners. 
The name Blind Rock is said to have been given to 
this rendezvous in consequence of a blind man who 
was put to torture, and finally burnt to death on its 
summit. Tradition also gives us the details of the 
capture and torture of two English prisoners, who 
were divested of all of their clothing, one bound se- 
curely to a tree, and the other brought into the circle 
of the band of Indians intent upon his torture by 
fire. In order to prolong their merciless sport, a 
fire was built upon the rock and the captive was 



282 Blind Rock 

forced to run the gauntlet of the narrow circle of 
Indians, who menaced him with knife and tomahawk 
and spear, as he drew near the circle, to avoid the 
scorching heat of the flames. At length, when nearly- 
exhausted, he caught sight of an Indian child in the 
circle. Half-crazed with the thought of ultimate 
death by fire, he seized the child and flung it into 
the flames. Astounded and paratyzed by the auda- 
city of the prisoner and the screams of the little 
savage, they rushed to its rescue, when, seizing a 
tomahawk, the Englishman fled in the direction of 
his bound comrade, cut his thongs, and with his naked 
comrade plunged into the depths of the dismal forest. 
Fear lent strength and speed to their limbs, and the 
darkness aiding them in their flight, they made a 
long detour in the woods and thickets, and finally 
reached Fort Edward, bleeding from every pore. 

The agony of the fugitives was augmented by the 
merciless attacks of those pests of the Adirondacks, 
the mosquitoes, which, fastening on their blood-stained, 
naked bodies, burrowed into the flesh until satiated; 
when, falling off gorged with blood, they left poison 
in the veins, which, swelling face and neck, rendered 
the poor fellows almost unrecognizable. We are told 
of the ferocious and often fatal attacks of these 
blood-thirsty insects in the wilds of Alaska, and I 
often wonder if they are larger than our Adirondack 
pests. The Iroquois, however, have a legend to 
account for the mosquito. 

In the central part of New York State and in 
Cayuga County, is a large tract of marshy land 



Legend of the Mosquito 283 

known as the Montezuma Marshes. These marshes 
or swamps extend along the Seneca River, and are 
said to be " the paradise of mosquitoes." Of course, 
when the thermometer marks ten or fifteen degrees 
below zero, we can discuss this musical insect with 
some degree of calmness, and without any danger 
of having its penetrating bill thrust upon us. It 
is said that the Montezuma mosquitoes are noted for 
their great size and numbers, but according to a 
legend of the Onondagas, they must even now be 
degenerate scions of noble sires. The legend of the 
Iroquois is as follows: 

" There were, in times of old — ^many hundred 
moons ago — two feathered monsters, permitted by 
the Manitou to descend from the sky and light upon 
the banks of the Seneca River, near the present route 
of the canal, at Montezuma. Their form was that 
of a mosquito, and they were so large that they dark- 
ened the sun like a cloud as they flew between it and 
the earth. Standing, the one on one side and the 
other opposite on the other bank, they guarded the 
river, and stretching their long necks into the canoes 
of the Indians as they attempted to paddle along the 
stream, gobbled them up as the stork king in the 
fable did the frogs. The destruction of hfe was 
great, for the embargo was so strictly enforced that 
an Indian could not pass without being devoured in 
the attempt. It was long before the monsters could 
be exterminated, and then only by the combined ef- 
forts of all the warriors of the Cayuga and Onondaga 
nations of Indians. The battle was terrible, many 



284 Legend of the Mosquito 

warriors being slain by being transfixed with their 
dagger-Hke bills or trampled upon by their huge feet, 
while large war canoes were overturned and their 
occupants drowned, by a single blow of their pon- 
derous wings. But the warriors finally triumphed, 
and the mammoth " mosquitoes " were slain. But 
sad to relate, as their huge carcasses decomposed in 
the sun, every particle became vivified and flew off 
daily in myriads of clouds of mosquitoes. And they 
have filled the country ever since." 

It is said that some of these " birds " escaped to 
the Adirondack wilderness. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

FLOATING BRIDGE AT FORT TICONDEROGA — MAJOR 
SKENE WHITEHALL (SKENESBORO) THE KILL- 
ING OF JANE McCREA FATE OF WILLIAM 

GILLILAND 

I\ AENTION has been made of a bridge of boats 
■^ ^ ^ across Lake Champlain, connecting Ticonde- 
roga with Mount Independence on the opposite side 
of the narrow channel of the lake at that point. 

The bridge has been described in an old military 
diary as follows: 

" It is a floating bridge, supported on twenty-two 
sunken piers of very large timber, the spaces between 
these filled with separate floats, each about fifty feet 
long and twelve wide, strongly fastened together with 
iron chains and rivets. A boom composed of large 
pieces of timber, well secured together by riveted 
bolts, is placed on the north side of the bridge, and 
by the side of this is placed a double iron chain, the 
links of which are one and a half inches square. The 
construction of this bridge, boom and chain, of four 
hundred yards in length, has proved a laborious un- 
dertaking and the expense must have been immense. 
It is, however, admirably adapted to the double pur- 
pose of a communication, to the opposite shore, and 



286 Sandy Hill 

an impenetrable barrier to any vessels that might 
attempt to pass our works." 

It was across this bridge of boats that General 
St. Clair marched, when he was obliged to evacuate 
Fort Ticonderoga, in July, 1777, at the expected 
attack from Fort Defiance. Another account saj^s 
that this heavy chain and immense boom, one thou- 
sand feet in length, was cut through by the British 
in two hours. 

Regarding the Bloody Trail or Bloody Divide, I 
find the following story: 

The site on which the village ot Sandy Hill now 
stands was formerly the scene of Indian atrocities. 
During the War of Revolution, Burgoyne's army lay 
encamped here for about six weeks. The Hessians 
occupied the ground in the vicinity of the new bury- 
ing ground at Sandy Hill while the grenadiers lay 
at Moss Street, two miles north, and the light in- 
fantry at Fort Edward Hill. Professor Silliman, in 
1819, told the following story: 

A ]Mr. Schoonlioven, during the last French war, 
was coming through the wilderness of the divide, from 
Fort William Henry to Sandy Hill with six or seven 
other Americans, when the party had the misfortune 
to be taken prisoners by a party of Indians, in the 
employ of the French. They were conducted to a 
spot which is now the central green or park at Sandy 
Hill and forced to sit down in a row upon a log. 
(INIr. Schoonhoven in telling the tale pointed out the 
exact place where the log lay.) Tlie Indians then 
began very deliberately to tomahawk their victims. 



Sandy Hill 287 

commencing at one end of the log, and splitting the 
skulls of their prisoners in regular succession; while 
the survivors, compelled to sit still and to witness 
the awful fate of their companions, awaited their 
own in unutterable horror. 

Mr. Schoonhoven was the last but one upon the 
end of the long log opposite to where the massacre 
commenced; the work of death had already pro- 
ceeded to him, and the chief gave the signal to stop 
the butchery. Then approaching Mr. Schoonhoven, 
he mildly said: "Do you not remember that [at 
such a time] when your young men were dancing, 
poor Indians came and wanted to dance too? your 
young men said, ' No, Indians shall not dance with 
us ' ; but you [for it seems that the chief had recog- 
nized his features only at the critical moment] you 
said, ' Indians shall dance ' ; now I will show you that 
Indians can remember kindness." 

I have also found the same story told with slight 
changes. In the other story, the number sitting on 
the log has grown to fourteen, all soldiers. All were 
killed but one, a John Quackenbush, whose life was 
spared owing to the intercession of a squaw. 

Spofford's Gazetteers of 1813 and also 1824 have 
the following, about Whitehall, New York, situated 
at the head of Lake Champlain: 

" It is situated on the west bank of Wood Creek 
at its entrance into Lake Champlain, seventy-three 
miles northwest of Albany. The situation is low and 
on almost solid rock with a very thin covering of 



288 Philip Skene 

earth. This village was formerly called Skenes- 
boro. The vessels taken from the British on this 
lake during the War of 1812, as well as those that 
gained the victory, now repose in the mud near 
Whitehall village, objects of inquiry and attention 
with every patriotic tourist and traveller. The 
northern Indians named this place Kah-cho-quah-na, 
' the-place-where-dip-fish,' at the foot of the falls." 

The first settler seems to have been Philip Skene, 
who located here in 1761, with thirty Scotch families. 

Philip Skene was the grandson of John Skene of 
Halyards in Fifeshire, Scotland, and was a descendant 
of the famous Scotch chief, William Wallace. He 
seems to have been a man of ability and great energy. 
Having been connected with the army of General 
Abercrombie in 1758, and that of General Amherst 
in 1759, he was left, as major of a brigade of British 
troops, in charge of Crown Point in October, 1759. 
Lake Champlain then being considered part of the 
British possessions, the major had ample opportunity 
to become familiar Math the surrounding country, and 
nominally associating twenty-four others (as dum- 
mies), he secured a patent of twenty-five thousand 
acres in 1765, and a patent of nine hundred additional 
acres in 1771. 

It is said that in 1770, he built a massive stone 
house and barn, a forge, and two saw-mills, on his 
estate at Skenesboro. He also built a sloop on the 
lake, and a road thirty miles long through the wilder- 
ness towards Salem. His house was 30 x 40, and 
his barn 130 feet long, with massive stone walls 



Philip Skene 289 

pierced with port-holes. The houses of his tenants, 
however, were a few frail wooden structures. 

He seems to have been a thorough Briton and very 
popular with the settlers in his immediate vicinity, 
and for that reason he became an object of fear and 
dislike to the patriots. When St. Clair retreated 
from Ticonderoga in 1777, he took possession of 
Skenesboro, and when driven thence by Bur- 
goyne's troops, the patriots destroyed all of the 
buildings and the vessels on the south end of the 
lake, before they continued their retreat to Fort Ann. 

Previous to this, however, a Captain Herrick with 
a party of American volunteers attacked the Skene 
settlement and captured young Major Skene, fifty 
tenants, twelve negroes, and a sloop. 

In the cellar of the stone house the soldiers found 
the body of the wife of the elder Skene, which had 
been preserved for many years to secure to the hus- 
band an annuity, devised to her while she remained 
above ground. ( !) 

The body of Mrs. Skene was buried back of the 
house by the Americans. 

You who have followed these sketches of incidents 
of the "dark and bloody ground" of the Adiron- 
dacks, cannot fail to grasp the fact that extreme 
brutahty was practised by both Indians and white 
men, in the predatory engagements that took place 
on the outskirts of the army of invasion, in the vicinity 
of the two lakes, sometimes in advance and often on 
the flanks of the detachments. 



290 The Backwoodsmen 

In the raids of the Indian alhes of the British, we 
read of torture, scalpings, and brutal mutilation, and 
among" the Americans, that frenzy of revenge which 
stopped not short of the death of the savage foe. 
And who can blame them when we comprehend the 
situation, where many of the soldiers of the Revolu- 
tion, on the frontier, had become warriors for the 
purpose of vengeance on the foe that had, perhaps, 
destroyed their homes and murdered their defenceless 
households. 

Perhaps there was no incident during the w^ar which 
aroused to such a pitch the people of the frontier and 
more distant villages, that was so instrumental in 
sending young men into the army during the Sara- 
toga campaign, that stirred the fighting spirit to such 
frenzy, and in the main contributed to the army of 
Gates such a stubborn spirit of reprisal, as the brutal 
murder of Jane INIcCrea by the savage allies of 
Burgoyne. This spirit in the end contributed to the 
defeat of General Burgoyne at Saratoga and left 
an indelible stain on the reputation of the British 
commander. 

In this the twentieth century it is hard to compre- 
hend the character of the hardy pioneers of that 
period, who plunged into the unknown forest of the 
north, w^aged war against towering oak and pine, 
built for themselves and their families a rude two- 
room log hut, cleared the land, planted grain and 
vegetables between the stumps, and, while their plant- 
ing was sprouting, subsisted on game from the woods 
and stream, killed by bullet and hook. The rifle was 







o 






The Killing of Jane McCrea 291 

their constant companion, and the killing of an In- 
dian was thought to be as justifiable as that of a 
wild beast. Soon other adventurous backwoodsmen 
settling on land near by became their neighbors, and 
the cross-road sprang into existence. Others followed, 
and a block-house w^ould be erected. As time went 
on these scattered settlements became the nucleus of 
hamlets, in after years they grew to villages, finally 
became cities. 

Such a beginning had Fort Edward, which was 
described in an old gazetteer as a " man village." In 
the vicinity of Fort Edward in 1777, four miles away, 
dwelt the family of McCrea. 

Jane McCrea was the second daughter of James 
McCrea, a Scotch Presbyterian minister, of Laming- 
ton, New Jersey, who died previous to the Revolu- 
tion. Miss McCrea was born in 1754 and in 1777 
was living with her brother. Colonel John McCrea 
of Albany (who had removed to the neighborhood 
of Fort Edward in 1773) , on the Hudson River about 
four miles from the fort. 

She was betrothed to a young man named David 
Jones, who at the commencement of the Revolution 
adhered to the crown, went to Canada, and was com- 
missioned a lieutenant in a loyalist regiment. 

Wlien our army retreated from Fort Edward at 
the approach of General Burgoyne, Miss McCrea, 
who was visiting a Mrs. McNeil at Fort Edward, had 
the indiscretion to remain behind, probably in the hope 
of meeting her lover. 

Her brother, who had already removed his family 



292 The Killing of Jane McCrea 

to a place of safety, at last sent her a peremptory 
summons to come on without delay, and she at last 
reluctantly prepared to embark on a bateau, which 
was to convey several families down the Hudson out 
of reach of danger. 

On the morning fixed for her departure the house 
was suddenly surprised by a party of hostile Indians 
belonging to General Burgoyne's army, " sent out to 
scour the country and harass the Americans." Mrs. 
McNeil and she were made prisoners and, with other 
members of the family, hurried off to Burgoyne's 
camp. Mrs. McNeil arrived in safety, but in a short 
time was horrified, to see another small band of In- 
dians come in with a number of freshly-severed scalps 
reeking with blood, among which she recognized the 
long glossy hair of Jane McCrea. 

The precise maimer of her death has never been 
ascertained, but in answer to a communication from 
General Gates about this horrible murder General 
Burgoyne says : " The fact was no premeditated bar- 
barity; on the contrary two chiefs who brought jNIiss 
McCrea off, for the purpose of security, not of vio- 
lence to her person, disputed which should be her 
guard and in a fit of savage passion in the one from 
whose hands she was snatched, the unhappy girl be- 
came the victim." He further stated that he obliged 
the Indians to give up the murderer, but for fear 
the Indians would desert his forces he released the 
culprit without punishment. Says a writer in a 
military journal before me: 

"It is impossible not to detest that cause which 




o 



The Killing of Jane McCrea 293 

accepts the aid of savage auxiliaries and encourages 
them in their inhuman slaughter and bloodshed. The 
measure was certain!}^ countenanced, and recom- 
mended by his Majesty King George III. and his 
ministers, and General Burgoyne acknowledged that 
he allowed the Indians to take the scalps of the dead." 

The story of the killing of Jane McCrea has been 
told in various ways. 

It was said that Lieutenant Jones hired the In- 
dians to bring his sweetheart to the camp and that 
they murdered her on the way to settle a dispute re- 
specting the reward offered. This he always denied. 
It is said that he retired to Canada soon after and 
lived to be an old man, melancholy and taciturn. If 
he had been a man of spirit, like old Nick Stoner 
he would not have been satisfied " to look sad all 
of his hfe." 

Jane McCrea was first buried near Fort Edward, 
then removed to Three Mile Creek, and from thence 
to the old Fort Edward burying ground. In 1814, 
the remains were removed to the new Union Ceme- 
tery between Fort Edward and Sandy Hill, and a 
marble slab placed over her grave by Miss Sarah 
N. Payne, a niece of Miss McCrea. 

During the Colonial period many attempts were 
made to establish dominion, corresponding to the 
estates of the Old World, over large tracts of de- 
sirable land, situated on navigable waterways, which 
were called baronial manors in the provinces, and 
seigniories in French possessions. 



294 William Gilliland 

Grants containing many square miles were made 
on the St. Lawrence in the early days of New France, 
but there were no attempts made to obtain seignio- 
ries on Lake Champlain, until after 1730, when 
most of the best land on both sides of the lake was 
taken up. 

I may say here that these grants were all vacated 
by the British Government after the conquest of 
Canada. 

JNIany parcels of land were secured by provincial 
soldiers, who became acquainted with the fertility of 
the soil, by passing over and along the border of the 
lake with General Amherst, in 1759-60, who after 
the French War became permanent settlers. 

Soon after the conquest, William Gilliland, a suc- 
cessful merchant in New York, secured several large 
tracts of land on the west shore of Lake Champlain, 
upon which he made an unsuccessful effort to found 
a baronial manor, after the method of the Van 
Rensselaers, the Livingstons, the Phillipses, and the 
Van Cortlandts, on the Hudson. In all, he secured 
about twenty thousand acres, built a mansion, and 
established a settlement, which was called the JManor 
of Willsboro. 

William Gilliland was born near the city of 
Armagh, Ireland, about the year 1734. He seems 
to have been a young man of fine personal appear- 
ance, with a liberal education, and a favorite in the 
best society in his native city, but a " detrimental," 
on account of his lack of riches and " blue blood." 

However, this does not seem to have prevented a 




OiD 



o 



William Gilliland 295 

mutual and warm attachment betM^een this cultured 
young Irishman and the Lady Betsey Eckles. But 
the disparity of birth and fortune proved an in- 
superable barrier to their marriage. Her family was 
powerful enough to seclude the youthful Betsey and 
to banish the young lover to America. 

Entering a mercantile house in the city of New 
York, young Gilliland by his intelligence and assidu- 
ity soon became a partner, and in 1759, having 
won the affections of a beautiful and accomplished 
daughter of his wealthy partner, Elizabeth Phagan, 
married her, receiving at the same time fifteen hun- 
dred pounds as her dowry. 

Without the remotest disloyalty to the second 
Betsey, his wife, the memory of his youthful love 
still clung to him, mingled with bitter animositj'' 
towards the family who had caused his banishment 
to the New World, and he dreamed of the future, 
when, as lord of the manor, he would take rank with 
the great patroons of the Hudson, and rebuke the 
pettj^ landlord, Avho had scorned him and made him 
an exile. 

So in 1764, we hear of him on a flourishing settle- 
ment in the wilderness, and his wildest dreams seemed 
likely to be realized. He held the land in fee, and 
leased it to the settlers at a small annual rent. But 
alas! " The best laid plans of mice and men gang 
aft agley." 

The old war-trail of the Indian and hostile armies 
in battle array passed through and over his domain, 
and doomed it to destruction. The Americans under 



296 William Gilliland 

Arnold In 1776, and the marauding army of Burgoyne, 
with hordes of Indians on his flank and rear, com- 
pleted the ruin of his possessions. He fled to New- 
York where he remained until 1784, when he again 
returned to the scene of his former enterprise, to 
find his tenantry scattered, his buildings in ashes, 
and the wild forest fast encroaching on his once fair 
domain. After a short period amid the ruins of his 
once happy home, he returned to New York, only to 
be harassed by debts and judgments, which finally 
landed him in the debtors' prison, where he remained 
until 1791, when, regaining his freedom, he again 
returned to his former home on the river Boquet. 
Here, meeting with new disappointments and treach- 
ery, and becoming partially deranged by his mis- 
fortunes, he wandered into the wilderness. 

Finally in February, 1796, while travelling in the 
woods on foot and alone, he w^andered from the trail, 
and unable to regain the path, and evidently stricken 
with some attack that deprived him of power of loco- 
motion, he perished from cold and exposure. When 
he was found, his bleeding hands and knees were 
evidence of his unavailing struggle against death. 

" Found dead ! dead and alone ! 
Nobody near with love to greet, 
Nobody heard his last faint groan, 
Alone with God! 
Yes, God was near when the wanderer died." 




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CHAPTER XXIV 

THE BURNING OF THE STEAMER " PHCENIX " ON 

LAKE CHAMPLAIN, SEPTEMBER^ 1819 PLATTS- 

BURG DRIVER RICHELIEU 

ONE September night in the year 1819 the steamer 
Phoenix left Burlington for Plattsburg. It 
had by one o'clock in the morning run as far as Pro- 
vidence Island, when it was discovered that the ship 
was on fire. Richard M. Sherman, a young man 
of twenty-two, who was a son of the captain, was 
at this time in temporary command and it is owing 
to his energy and presence of mind that no lives were 
lost. Shortly after the fire was discovered it raged 
with irresistible violence. In the Historical Collec- 
tions of Barber and Howe the scene that ensued is 
thus described: 

" The passengers, roused by the alarm from their 
slumbers, and waking to a terrible sense of impending 
destruction, rushed in crowds upon the deck, and at- 
tempted to seize the small boats. Here, however, 
they were met by young Sherman, who, having aban- 
doned all hope of saving his boat, now thought only 
of saving his passengers, and stood by the gangway 
with a pistol in each hand, determined to prevent any 
person from jumping into the boats before they were 

297 



298 Burning of the " Phoenix " 

properly lowered into the water, and prepared to re- 
ceive their living freight. With the utmost coolness 
and presence of mind he superintended the necessary- 
preparations, and, in a few minutes, the boats were 
lowered away, and the passengers received safely on 
board. They then shoved off, and pulled through 
the darkness for the distant shore. As soon as this 
was reached, and the passengers landed, the boats 
returned to the steamboat and took off the crew% and, 
as the captain supposed, every living soul except him- 
self. But, shortly after the boats had left the second 
time, he discovered, under a settee, the chambermaid 
of the PhoeniiVj who, in her fright and confusion, 
had lost all consciousness. Lashing her to the plank 
which he had prepared for his own escape, this gal- 
lant captain launched her towards the shore ; and was 
thus left alone with the vessel, now one burning pile. 
Having satisfied himself that no living thing remained 
on board his boat, and with proud consciousness that 
he had saved every life intrusted to his care, he sprung 
from the burning wreck as it was about to sink be- 
neath the waters, and, by the means of a settee, 
reached the shore in safety. This is no exaggerated 
story. It is the simple narrative of one of the most 
heroic acts on record. We have only to add, that 
the captain who so faithfully and fearlessly dis- 
charged his duty on this trying occasion is still [the 
date of the writing of this article was 1840] in com- 
mand of a noble boat on Lake Champlain, and is 
known to every traveller as Captain Sherman, of the 
steamboat Burlington." 




151uff I'oint, Lake ('liain])lain. 



Plattsbur^: 299 



& 



Plattsburg was the scene of important events in the 
early wars of the continent, and in 1814 of a consid- 
erable naval battle. At that time, an invasion of the 
northern portion of New York was contemplated by 
the British, and a force of from ten thousand to 
fifteen thousand troops was collected in the vicinity 
of ^lontreal for that purpose. In such an expedi- 
tion the command of Lake Champlain became an 
object of great moment, as it flanked the march of 
the invading army for more than one hundred miles, 
thus offering facilities for the transportation of re- 
enforcements and supplies. The efforts of both na- 
tions were, therefore, directed to the creation of naval 
forces on the lake in the shortest possible time. The 
Saratoga, the largest American vessel, was built at 
Vergennes, and was launched on the fortieth day after 
the first tree used in her frame was taken from the 
forest. In August, 1814, the English army, about 
twelve thousand strong, commanded by Sir George 
Prevost, advanced along the western shore to Pitts- 
burgh, w^hich was held by General ]Macomb with 
about fifteen hundred men. The American naval 
force, under Captain MacDonough, was anchored in 
Plattsburgh Bay; it consisted of fourteen vessels of 
all classes, carrying eighty-six guns and about eight 
hundred and fifty men; the largest vessel was the 
Saratoga, twenty-six guns and two hundred and 
twelve men. The British squadron, under Captain 
Downie, consisted of sixteen vessels, carrying ninety- 
five guns and about one thousand men; the largest 
vessel was the Confiance, thirty-seven guns and three 



300 Battle of Plattsburg 

hundred men. At sunrise on September 11th, the 
British squadron came in sight, and by eight o'clock 
approached the American fleet. Fire was opened by 
the Americans, which was not returned by the enemy 
until the Con fiance had anchored at about three hun- 
dred yards from the American line. The first broad- 
side from the Confiance killed or wounded forty men 
on board the Saratoga, nearly a fifth of her entire 
complement, and more than a third of the American 
loss during the action. The engagement now became 
general. In an hour the whole starboard battery of 
the Saratoga was disabled. She was then winded 
about by means of kedges, which had been laid from 
the bows, and her fresh broadside was brought to 
bear upon the Confiance, which had also suffered 
severely. The British vessel attempted to perform 
the same evolution, but without success, and after 
fighting about two and one half hours in all, was 
forced to strike her flag. The fire of the Saratoga 
was then turned upon the brig Linnet of sixteen guns, 
the second vessel of the enemy, which surrendered in 
a few minutes. The Chnhh sloop of eleven guns 
had meanwhile struck to the Ticonderoga of seven- 
teen guns, and the Finch sloop of eleven guns had 
been crippled, and, drifting within reach of a single 
gun planted on a small island, also surrendered. 
These sloops had been captured from the Americans 
the year before. The twelve gunboats which made 
up the remainder of the British squadron also hauled 
down their flags, but presently made off and escaped, 
all the men on the American gunboats being required 




St. James, Lake George Village. 



Battle of Plattsburg 301 

to keep the prizes afloat. The American loss in 
killed and wounded was one hundred and twelve; 
that of the British is estimated at from one hundred 
and seventy-three to two hundred and four, exclusive 
of prisoners. Of the ninety-five guns which they 
brought into action, they lost all but twenty. The 
American victory was mainly owing to the precaution 
of Macdonough in throwing out kedges from the 
bow of the Saratoga, so that when the guns in one 
broadside were disabled, she could be turned round 
and present a fresh broadside to the enemy. Her 
twenty-six guns were thus in the action practically 
equal to twice as many. In fact, with these, she 
actually outfought the Con fiance and the Linnet, 
with fifty-three guns of fully equal calibre, having 
together twice as many men, but which could not, 
when one broadside was disabled, turn round and 
fight with the other. The British army under Pre- 
vost had in the meantime advanced upon Macomb's 
position at Plattsburg. A feint was made in 
front, while a column was sent to ford the river 
above, and take it in the rear; but the column lost 
its way, and before the ford could be found the 
naval battle was over. The attack was at once aban- 
doned, and under cover of night and a storm, the 
British retreated in disorder, leaving behind their sick 
and wounded, and a part of their baggage and 
stores. 

Joseph Jovency, in the Jesuit Relation, describes 
a wonderful fish found in the Lake of the Iroquois 



302 Armored Fish 

(Champlain), by the early explorers of this lake. 
He says: 

" There is a large fish found in the Lac des Iro- 
quois, which is not mentioned b}'^ early authors. It 
is called by the natives ' causar,' and is eight feet 
long, sometimes ten. It is as thick as the human 
thigh; it is dun color approaching white; it bristles 
all over with scales so hard and flinty set together, 
that they turn the edge of a knife or point of a spear. 
The head is large, and protected by an exceedingly 
hard skull, like a helmet. Hence the name of 
' armored fish ' has been given it by the French. 

" For a weapon it carries an immense beak, of the 
length of a man's arm and furnished with a double 
row of teeth. It devours smaller fish and ensnares 
birds. Hiding itself among the sedge it projects 
its beak above the water, slightly open. The birds 
deeming it a weed or a bush perch upon it, when their 
feet are caught by the closing of its beak. It then 
drags them into the water and devours them.'* (It 
w^as probably the mascalonge.) 

In 1664 the River of the Iroquois was called by 
three names. It was known as Richelieu, until it 
reached Fort Chambly, from thence to St. Antonie 
it was called the Chambly, and the rest of the stream 
to the St. Lawrence was known as river Sorel. It 
was named for two officers under Marquis de Tracy, 
Pierre de Sorel, who built Fort Richelieu, and 
Jaques de Chambly, who erected Fort Chambly 
at the foot of the rapids at the present village of 
Chambly. Rouse Point at the head of the Richelieu 







o 

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pq 
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Q 



Richelieu River 303 

was named for James Rouse, a Canadian who settled 
there in 1788. 

This river is described (in 1663) as follows: 

" It is styled the ' "River of the Iroquois,' as it forms 
the highway leading to them; and by that route 
those barbarians have most often come to attack us. 

" The bed of this river is a hundred and fifty feet 
wide throughout almost its entire course, although it 
is a little narrower at its mouth. Its banks are 
clothed mth beautiful pines through which it is easy 
to walk; and, in fact, fifty of our men made their 
way on foot there for nearly twenty leagues, from 
the mouth of the river to the falls, so called, although 
there is really no waterfall there, but merely a swift 
current filled with rocks which impede its course 
and makes navigation almost impossible, for three 
quarters of a league. 

" As for the rest of the river it has from its source 
a very firm bed in which occur as many as eight 
islands before the basin below the falls is reached. 

" After passing the rapids of the falls one sees the 
third fort, which marks the end of these rapids; from 
there on, the river is found to be very beautiful, and 
easy to navigate up to the lake called Champlain, 
toward the end of which one enters the territory of 
the Annieronnon Iroquois" (Mohawk). 

In the settlements of a new country, in the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth centuries, were found men of 
character and education, and men broken in health 
and in fortune, men who knew no law except that 
of desire, and who would submit to no restraint, and 



304 Richelieu River 

yet were bold, brave, loving to their kindred, and the 
most faithful of friends. 

To social amenities or the restraints of law, either 
human or divine, they seem to have paid little heed 
and in many instances were subject only to the 
dictates of their own conscience, perverted though it 
might be by their environment. Witness a tale that 
is told of the early settlements in the town of Au 
Sable. 

The first babe born in the little hamlet of Union 
(in 1795) was in the family of John Stanton. The 
mother of the child was a servant girl in this house- 
hold. The wife, Mrs. Stanton, not being exactly 
reconciled to the circumstances, insisted upon being 
immediately taken to her friends in Dutchess County. 
It being winter the husband took her upon a hand- 
sleigh and drew her up the lake to Skenesboro 
(Whitehall), thence to Fort Edward and down the 
Hudson on the ice to her father's home; after which 
he returned to Au Sable, having been five weeks in 
performing the journey. Upon his return he mar- 
ried the mother of the child and lived with her many 
years. 






i I 



<0 



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CHAPTER XXV 

VILLAGE OF LAKE GEORGE, FORMERLY CALLED CALDWELL 

BLOODY POND THE CALL OF THE WILD 

PROSPECT MOUNTAIN — LOST ON THE TRAIL 

r^EORGE WILLIAM CURTIS, in 1851, pub- 
^-^ lished a book which he named Lotus Eating. 
In it he devoted a number of pages to a visit to 
Lake George. The pages are charmingly written, 
(as though he and his " Empress " had eaten of the 
*' Lotus,") but do not impart a great deal of in- 
formation about that secluded though entrancing 
sheet of water. He tells us that he journeyed from 
Saratoga by rail to Moreau Station, and across the 
divide in a stage coach. He speaks of dining at 
Glens Falls, " oppressed by the petty tyranny of a 
decayed dynasty of saw-mills," and states that " the 
vexed river rages and tumbles among channelled 
rocks, making a fine spectacle of the Trentonian char- 
acter. Then we bowled along through a brilliant 
afternoon towards the lake. The road is one of the 
pleasantest I remember. And particularly on that 
day the grain-fields were of the rarest delicacy of 
tone and texture. Through the trees, an hour from 
Glens Falls, I saw a sheet of water, and we emerged 
upon a fine view of the lake." And then he records : 
*' Caldwell is a hamlet at the southern end of the 

lake. It is named from an eccentric gentleman 

20 305 



3o6 Village of Lake George 

[illiberal obstinacy is always posthumously beati- 
fied into eccentricity] who owned the whole region, 
built a hotel on the wrong spot, determined that no 
one else should build anywhere, and ardently desired 
that no more people settle in the neighborhood; and, 
in general, infested the southern shore with a success 
worthy of a mythological dragon. Instead, there- 
fore, of a fine hotel at the extremity of the lake, 
commanding a view of its length, and situated in 
grounds properly picturesque, there is a house at one 
side of the south end of the lake, looking across it 
to the opposite mountain, and forever teasing the 
traveller with wonder that it stands where it does. 
The hotel is admirably kept, however, and the faults of 
position and size are obviated as far as possible by 
the courtesy and ability of the host. But the increas- 
ing throng of tourists justifies the erection of an inn 
equal in every manner to the best. This year the little 
hamlet was but the ' colony ' of the hotel, and a mile 
across the lake on the opposite shore, was a small 
house for the accommodation of the public." 

The inn Curtis speaks of was the Lake House, 
long a popular hostelry, erected about 1800, which 
was torn down in 1903. The small house for the 
public across the lake a mile away was probably the 
present Crosbyside or its predecessor. 

Up to 1772, all of the western and northern part 
of the province of New York was called Albany 
County. At the above date the western part was 
cut off and named Tryon County, and the north- 
ern part Charlotte County. In 1784, Washington 




fcJO 



Village of Lake George 307 

County was erected. It embraced all, or nearly all, 
of the Lake George region, and also considerable 
territory to the west, being part of the township of 
Queensbury, patented May 20, 1762. 

Caldwell village was founded in 1810, and named 
in honor of James Caldwell, a principal proprietor 
and a benefactor, who seems to have owned nearly, 
if not quite, all of the land in the town of Caldwell. 
In 1813, the village contained about forty houses, 
stores, etc., a post-office, and a small church " with 
a steeple and a bell," built at the expense of ]Mr. 
James Caldwell. In 1813 Warren County was taken 
from Washington, and Caldwell became the county- 
seat of Warren County. 

Soon after the conquest of Canada, in 1762, settle- 
ment began at the head of the lake, but its progress 
M'as arrested by the Revolution; after the war settle- 
ments were resumed. The first settlers were Daniel 

Shaw, Benoni Burtch, Tierce, Andrew Edmonds, 

Obadiah Hunt, Thaddeus Bradley, Elias Prosser, 

Nathan Burdick, George Van Deusen, Butler, 

and Christopher Potter. 

The first inn and the first grist-mill were erected 
b}^ General Caldwell. He was formerly a merchant 
at Albanj'^, and obtained a patent, dated September 
18, 1787, for 1595 acres of land. The court-house 
was built in 1816. 

The evolution of navigation on the lake was slow. 
Imagination takes us back centuries, or to the time 
of very primitive intelligence; to the time of the raft 
of two logs bound together with withes. Next we 



3o8 Village of Lake George 

come to the dugout, simply a trunk of a tree hollowed 
out by fire, and by slow chipping with stone imple- 
ments. We are told that the Amerinds of the north- 
west frequently made boats thirty feet long of a 
single log, and that the sides were made so thin that 
the top could be made to bend outward in the centre 
by a cross piece, so that it had the appearance of 
being made from a very large tree. It is very prob- 
able that the Amerinds to the north of the Great 
Lakes very early became aware of the utility of the 
bark of trees for their boats, until at last the most 
beautiful, the most symmetrical vessel ever floated 
was an accomplished fact. In our forest land, or on 
the many lakes and rivers of the Adirondacks, the 
dugout was of comparatively short duration, the ex- 
ception and not the rule in the Lake George- 
Champlain valleys, and the beautiful birchen canoe 
was, for centuries, the onlj^ means of navigation for 
the Amerinds. With the European came the saw- 
mill, and small boats made of slabs, and the batteaux 
propelled by pole, and paddle, and sail. Many of 
these were to be found on the lake, during the French 
and Indian wars, and the war between France and 
England. A few sloops were built during the latter 
period, and with the coming of the permanent settlers, 
rafts of large size were floated up the lake with ease. 
It is said that with the right kind of wind, timber 
rafts were made to float against the very mild cur- 
rent that flows to the north on Lake George. 

In the year 1817 we have the first steamer on this 
lake, named Caldwell, built by enterprising ship- 




a; 
fee 






Village of Lake George 309 

builders, only ten years after the first voyage of 
the Clermont on the Hudson in 1807. 

It is to be assumed that this, the first steamer on 
Lake George, was burned in 1821, for a record of 
1824 says: "There is to be a steamer on the lake 
in 1824, the former one having been destroyed by fire. 
(The Mountaineer J built near Caldwell in 1824, was 
condemned in 1837.) 

On July 29, 1856, the steamer John Jay, built in 
1852, while on her way up the lake was burned near 
Garfields. Six persons jumped overboard and were 
drowned, the rest of the passengers were rescued by 
boats from the shore. In 1860 another steamer 
named Minnehalia, built in 1857, ran daily between 
Caldwell and the foot of the lake. The Caldwell M, 
built at Ticonderoga in 1838, was subsequently 
broken up. 

The Horicon, built 1876, still in commission. 

Ticonderoga " 1884, burned August 29, 1901. 

Sagamore " 1902, still in commission. 

Mohican 2d " 1908. 

Lake Champlain steamer Vermont, built 1809. 
This was only two years after the voyage of the 
Clermont (1807) . The Vermont was sunk in October, 
1815. 

Phcenix 1st built at Vergennes 1815, burned 
September, 1819. 

Champlain built at Vergennes 1817, broken up 
Congress " " " 1819, " " 

Phoenix 2d " " " 1820, " 

General Greene " " " 1825, " 



3IO Village of Lake George 

Mr. Curtis, who wrote fifty years ago, was 
filled probably with memories of Swiss and Italian 
lakes. His " Empress " is persistent with her ques- 
tion, "Now is it not more beautiful than Como?" 
They were strolling upon the piazza, " while the moon 
paved a quivering path across the water along which 
thronged enchanted recollection." He says: 

" It was an unfortunate question, because Lake 
Como is the most beautiful lake the traveller sees, 
and because the details of comparison were instantly 
forced upon my mind. 

" Lake George is a simple mountain lake upon the 
verge of the wilderness. You ascend from its banks 
^vestward and plunge into a wild region. The hills 
that frame the water are low and covered with the 
stiffly outlined, dark, and cold foliage of evergreen. 
Among these are no signs of life. You might well 
fancy the populace of the primeval forest yet hold- 
ing those retreats. You might still dream in the 
twilight that it were not impossible to catch the ring 
of a French or English rifle, or the wild war-whoop 
of the Indian; sure that the landscape you see, was 
the same they saw, and their remotest ancestors. 
From the water rise the rocks, sometimes solitary 
and bearing a single tree, sometimes massed into a 
bowery island. 

" We gazed dreamily forth over the lake which 
the moon enchanted, then the slow beat of oars pushed 
through the twilight, and directly across the moon- 
paven path of water shot a skiff with female figures 
only. The throb of oars approached and singing 



Village of Lake George 3 ^ i 

voices mingled with the beat. The boat drove 
silently into the black shadow of the cove, the sing- 
ing ceased, and a hushed tumult of low laughter 
trembled through the trees. For a moment I was 
a South Sea Islander, a Typeean, a Herman Mel- 
ville, and down the ruined steps I ran to catch a 
moonlight glimpse of Fayaway, but saw only the rip- 
pling brilliance of the rapidly fading boat. There- 
fore I know not what forms they were, nor the 
moonlight mysteries of Lake George. 

" Lake George should be the motto of a song, 
rather than the text of a sermon, I know. But it 
is beautiful enough to make moralizing poetry. It 
is the beauty of a country cousin, the diamond in the 
rough, when compared with the absolute elegance and 
fascination of Ccmo." 

It would seem as though lotus-eating did not en- 
tirely agree with his digestion. 

In this, the twentieth century, the journey to Lake 
George is made somewhat easier than that endured 
by tourists sixty years ago. Leaving the New York 
Central at an earlj^ morning hour, at Albany, in three 
hours you arrive at the lake by rail. 

I am inclined to think that all mankind is imbued 
with love of country, appreciation of beauty, music, 
poetry, of hills, lakes, and mountains, " few in the 
extreme but all in a degree." 

The immediate vicinity of Lake George is ap- 
proached by rail, winding through wooded hills that 
act as screens to obstruct the view of the lake until 
suddenly this lovely sheet of water with its evergreen 



312 Village of Lake George 

environment spreads out before you, so bewitchingly 
beautiful that it fills one with emotional serenity; you 
do not care to speak, you are glad that your com- 
panion's eyes are dim with tears. 

Alighting from the train that runs onto the dock 
of the steamboat landing, tourists take omnibuses to 
different hotels, but above you, although near at hand, 
you become aware of an extensive structure with a 
vast colonnaded facade, built upon the site of Fort 
William Henry, part of the earthworks of that 
fortress being plainly visible to the west and south. 

Curtis scored General James Caldwell for building 
a large hotel on the west side of the lake, instead 
of the head of the lake, and on the land now occupied 
by the Fort William Henry Hotel/ While we are 
willing to acknowledge that it is an ideal site for a 
hotel, still I like to think that the General had an 
idea of the fitness of things, when he refused to 
occupy the land, hallowed by memories of the un- 
availing defence of Colonel Monro and his brave 
men, against the overwhelming force of French and 
Indians under General Montcalm. It had been made 
a charnel house of men, women, and children, muti- 
lated, scalped, and burned, when the fort was, by 
orders, destroj^ed by fire. With evidences of that 
great disaster still visible, how could the General use 
the land, for a building devoted to entertainments 
and frivolous festivity, which had been the scene of 
gruesome savage brutality? 

But a century and a half has elapsed, and all around 

1 This hotel has recently been destroyed by fire. 










m 



Village of Lake George 313 

breathes forth peace and tranquillity. The hotel is 
a vast structure, built for a multitude. Its colonnaded 
piazza, four hundred feet in length, is vast, sym- 
metrical, imposing, and the environment suggests 
peace and repose. 

Sitting at the top of the steps which lead to the 
vestibule of the hotel, one looks down a slight de- 
clivity, to the boat landing a few hundred feet away. 
Easterly a grove of tall pines and shrubbery partly 
hide the lake from view. To the west a dense growth 
of American cypress screens bathers from view. 
Winding paths lead to the village half a mile away, 
the dense evergreen foliage meeting overhead, making 
an arbor-like pass of grateful shade. 

As I one day stood at the top of the steps, gazing 
through the vista of foliage and flowers down the 
path to the landing, over the rippling water to Dia- 
mond Island, which seems to stand as a sentinel mid- 
way from shore, beyond to the mountains touched 
with sunlight, and on to the blue sky, flecked with 
fleecy clouds, and still beyond into the purple haze 
of distance, I became aware that a gentleman stood 
beside me, whose gaze was accompanying mine on its 
flight to the distant horizon. 

" Is there another as beautiful view in the United 
States as this survey down the lake?" he asked. 
" Yes, one," I replied just as the white steamer 
Sagamore came into view off Diamond Island, " from 
the deck of that steamer, looking up to where we 
stand, taking in the hotel and its environment, 
together with a glimpse of the white buildings 



314 Village of Lake George 

of the village on the west and Crosbyside on the 
east." 

To the southeast is the old road to Fort Edward, 
on the eastern border of which is the ruin of old Fort 
George, and on a slight elevation is seen the statue 
of Sir William Johnson and Chief Hendrick, erected 
to commemorate the battle of Lake George in 1755. 
To the south and west, and also to the east, is the 
marsh that offered some protection to the garrison; 
lowlands still, but the swamp has practically dis- 
appeared. The old garden to the west is a level 
sward, now used for tennis and base-ball, through 
which Montcalm ran trenches and established a bat- 
tery, not two hundred and fifty yards from the fort; 
all signs of which have disappeared. 

In reading the accounts of the attack, and the de- 
fence of the fort by the gallant and brave Colonel 
Monro, I am reminded of Cooper's Last of the 
Mohicans^ and Hawk-eye, and Uncas, and Chingach- 
gook seem to be hovering on the wooded slopes of 
the mountains; and as I muse with my gaze fixed on 
the precipitous height of Prospect Mountain, a mist 
gathers, and as it becomes dense, I imagine that some- 
where in its white folds, the gentle Alice and the 
more vigorous form of Cora, with her beauty en- 
hanced by the taint of the blood of her West Indian 
mother. La Long Carabine, and Duncan are approach- 
ing the fort, and my ear is strained to catch some 
sound that will indicate their presence, as Hawk-eye 
recklessly leads them towards the fort, by the furrow 
of the cannon-shot. And then the scene of that 



**The Last of the Mohicans" 315 

terrible rout toward Fort Edward, and the rescue 
of the maidens by their sneering arch-enemy La 
Renard Subtil, looms up before me, and I follow 
them through the Scarron Valley, and up into the 
mountains; and then follows the pathetic picture of 
the pursuit bj^ the stricken father, and Uncas, Le 
Gros Serpent, Hayward, and Hawk-eye. And 
finally comes the tragic ending of the tale, and the 
fearful murder of Cora, and the killing of Uncas, 
and the retribution which at last reaches the wily 
Huron; only a little farther north, on the other side 
of those western mountains, upon which my eyes are 
resting. 

Obsessed by the tale, I live in the past unmindful 
of twentieth-century surroundings, until the honk, 
honk of a motor car dispells the vision. 

From the very beginning of the month of May, 
1909, I was obsessed with a desire to penetrate the 
north country in the vicinity of Lake George. 
Former visits had been made in the height of the 
tourist season, when the shores of the lake were swarm- 
ing with pleasure seekers, and the water dotted with 
bare-armed and bare-headed girls rowing and pad- 
dling, courting the rays of the sun for browned skin 
and vigor of muscularity. 

At last a day came when nature seemed at its best, 
and earth, air, and sky invited a tramp over hill and 
dale. It was a veritable " call of the wild." If 
ever the trite old saying " Two is company and three 
is a crowd," is true, it is on such a day and occasion. 



o 



1 6 Village of Lake George 



My companion had also felt the " call." Given a 
man in the early prime of life, an artist, a poet, with 
a soul filled with music and humor, genial and truth- 
ful, and such a lover of nature that he would not 
even kill a snake, what more could a man want in 
a comrade? Such is the " Professor " of my rambles. 

Steam-cars carried us to Glens Falls, where we 
explored Cooper's Cave and were carried back in 
memory to the fugitives in the cavern, and the 
wounded Huron in the tree, hanging over the abyss, 
while his life blood falls dropwise " heavy one by 
one " into the turbulent waters below, *' like the first 
drops from a thunder-cloud." 

We also turned our attention to the falls then in 
full volume. Roaring and seething the water dashed 
from crag to crag, lashed into creamy foam as it 
poured into the gorge, where the dark turbulent 
stream panted and heaved, like a huge wild beast 
after the chase. 

At the suggestion of the Professor we boarded a 
trolley in search of Bloody Pond. Interviewing an 
official all blue and gilt, I inquired if he would let 
us off at Bloody Pond. He gave me a stare but no 
answer. Again I applied for information and re- 
ceived a gruff " Yes " in reply. A little later I 
essayed to inquire if the car would stop on signal to 
take us on board when we were through our work. 
I received an ambiguous answer from his High- 
mightiness, that quenched all desire for further inter- 
course with a man of five feet three inches, who 
imagined he measured six feet two. 







o .to 






a; 
-a 



C3 
O 



H 



The Call of the Wild 31? 

Then the Professor told a story of a man who 
remarked, " One day I wanted to reach Lake 
George the worst way, so I took a trolley-car." 
" I guess this was the car he took," continued my 
comrade. 

We reached Bloody Pond, of gruesome memories, 
after a ride of about twenty minutes. Climbing a 
slight acclivity we came to a plateau of no great ex- 
tent, in the centre of which we found the pond. It 
is nearly circular, about two hundred feet in diameter, 
with no apparent inlet or outlet. It is probably 
maintained by the drainage from hills to the south, 
or seepage from springs under the pond. Without 
its traditions, it would attract no attention. With 
the knowledge of its tragedy, we imagined the water 
to be dark and gloomy, although clear enough to re- 
veal masses of decaying oak leaves on its bottom. 
Its shore is about half encircled by a thin fringe of 
trees of no great size, among which the white bark 
of the birch, the gloomy hemlock, and the oak and 
maple were visible. 

The stillness was profound: no sound was audible, 
no birds fluttered near, no song was heard. Even 
the loathsome frog was not visible, but as I ap- 
proached the shore, two snakes scurried in front of 
my feet and disappeared in the water. My attention 
was soon directed to what aj^peared to be a floating 
branch, about four feet from shore, which upon close 
scrutiny proved to be the larger snake standing on 
his tail on the bottom of the pond with head and 
curved neck about three inches above the surface. 



3i8 Village of Lake George 

motionless, watching me. I never imagined that 
there could be any humor in a reptile, but this one 
was evidently having fun with me. His mouth was 
slightly open and his forked tongue played rapidly 
in and out, while his eyes shone with a crystal glitter. 
He had the appearance of grinning at me. Stepping 
back about ten feet I saw him sink to the bottom of 
the pond and draw his sinuous length along, approach- 
ing the edge of the shore, where he raised his head 
among the weeds, still with that grinning look, watch- 
ing me. As we turned our backs on his snakeship I 
almost expected to hear a cackling laugh and a hiss 
of derision. 

To the east we had a background of the precipitous 
side of French IVIountain, which falls away to the 
southeast, plainly marking the site of the ravine of 
the ambuscade of Dieskau's forces in 1755. Near 
at hand, although unmarked and unidentified, is the 
spot where Hendrick fell, and in front of us and 
around us was the scene of the attack on the scalpers 
and robbers, who returned to despoil the dead, who had 
fallen in the " morning scout." You will remember 
the story: 

" While resting themselves near a pool in the for- 
est, they were set upon by a scouting party from Fort 
Lj^man, chiefly backwoodsmen, under command of 
Captains Folsom and McGinnis. The assailants 
were greatly outnumbered. But after a hard fight 
the Canadians and Indians fled. The bodies of the 
slain were thrown into the pool, which bears to this 
day the name of Bloody Pond." 



Prospect Mountain 319 

As the episode occurred a century and a half ago, 
it is not strange that stories connected with the cam- 
paigns of 1755-59 should receive more or less 
embellishment by oral transmission. 

I have found on printed pages of late dates the 
following exaggerations of the story of " Bloody 
Pond." 

A mother instructs her children as follows: 

" During the Revolutionary War ( ?) , the English 
killed fifteen hundred women and children, and threw 
their bodies into the pond, since which time the water 
has been the color of blood." 

Again: "Tradition states that the bodies of the 
dead, to the number of two hundred and upward, 
were rolled into the pool, and that the survivors of the 
action walked dry-shod over the pond on the piled-up 
corpses. For weeks the waters bore the sanguinary 
stain of carnage, and gave to the stagnant pool the 
significant name of Bloody Pond." 

Prospect JMountain, rising abruptly to the west of 
the village of Lake George, does not seem to have 
been the scene of any historic event of importance. 
At an altitude of over two thousand feet its bald 
rockj^ summit offers a panoramic view which is un- 
surpassed for beauty and grandeur by any elevation 
in its vicinity. From this point of view the plain of 
the upper Hudson is spread out before the observer 
to the south, bounded only by the distant horizon. 
To the east French Mountain and the contiguous 
mountain range obstruct the line of vision and at the 
same time form a background both grand and beauti- 



320 Lost on the Trail 

fill to the glorious and entrancing sheet of crystal 
water that laves the base. 

To the north as far as the eye can reach, or until 
the prospect fades away in the haze of distance, peak 
after peak of the Adirondack wilderness is visible, 
dwarfed by distance into miniature hills of enchanting 
beauty covered by virgin forests in all of the ex- 
quisite shades of green and olive. And, as the sun- 
light floods the landscape, threads of silver and 
patches of glistening blue mark the mountain streams 
and placid lakes that lie scattered throughout this 
primeval wilderness. In the immediate foreground 
you become aware that you are standing on a rocky 
precipice of great height, at whose foot you gaze 
into the tops of trees so closely woven that one could 
imagine that a pathway might be made across their 
tops. A few years ago an elevated railway ran 
straight to the top from the level of the village. For 
want of capital or for some other good reason this 
railroad has been out of commission for a year or two, 
but I trust that it will spring into life again in a 
short time, as it is an easy way to approach the sum- 
mit of a mountain, a view from which will furnish an 
exquisite sensation, the memory of which will remain 
with a lover of nature for years. It is ti-ue that from 
this precipice we look down upon a wild peak a thou- 
sand feet below that has a fearsome name, " Rattle- 
snake Cobble," but if there are snakes there, they 
are hidden by the glorious vegetation. We are not 
aware that there is anj'' wagon road direct to this 
bald peak, but are told of a trail which, though long. 



Lost on the Trail 321 

is easily surmounted ; a mountain road through a pass 
to the north brings one within a thousand feet of the 
summit but a mile or two away. 

In the summer of 1906 two young girls desiring to 
spend the month of August amid the sylvan beauties 
of Lake George secured rooms at a farmhouse, a 
few miles from Lake George village, situated on the 
path spoken of above, but near the foot of Prospect 
JNIountain. From the pass a well-defined and com- 
paratively easy trail leads to the summit. On a pre- 
vious visit they had accompanied a party over this 
trail and were familiar with it. 

One beautiful morning in August these young 
girls wandered listlessly along this trail, their ob- 
jective point being a cool spring farther up the moun- 
tain. Both had rude alpenstocks and the younger 
one had provided herself with a collapsible drinking 
cup, and The Lady of the Decoration, " to learn 
how to swear artistically," she remarked to her com- 
panion. 

Both were young yet not alike in youth, Hazel be- 
ing on the verge of sixteen, while Janet was twenty, 
with pleasing countenance and the frank blue-gray 
eyes occasionally seen in the firm, clean-cut feat- 
ures of a blonde. Halting at the spring for rest 
after a somewhat arduous climb up the trail, they re- 
freshed themselves from the cool waters of the spring 
and spent a little time in gay jest and laughter, and 
as they at last arose to continue their ramble, ap- 
proached an opening along the edge of the path where 
from a rocky ledge, they looked down a hundred feet 



322 Lost on the Trail 

or more into the tops of lofty pines, beeches, and 
maples, and the sturdy oak whose foliage mingling 
with the dark evergreen of spruce, hemlock, and cedar, 
made a foreground which seemed to be a carpet of 
manifold shades of green, over which the blue waters 
of the lake were visible dotted here and there with 
canoes and sailboats. The joyous laughter and gay 
songs of the sailors were borne upward to our moun- 
taineers, mingled with the hoarse whistle of the 
Horicon, the defiant shriek of the motor-boats, and 
the punk, punk, punk, of their diminutive engines. 
The girls stood together in the sunlight gazing in 
silence at the picturesque scene below, while all around 
were voices of the forest. The gurgle of the spring, 
the soughing of the trees, the brief songs of the birds, 
the humming of insects, emphasized the profound 
stillness of the lonely trail. 

Turning from their outlook, Janet girdled and 
shortened her flowing gown, took up her staff and 
proposed that they should continue up the trail to 
the top of the mountain, take lunch, and enjoy the 
view from the summit. Leisurely they journeyed up- 
ward and at last arrived at the bald top of the moun- 
tain and made their way at once to the restaurant, 
too hungry and weary to care for the beauties of 
nature spread below and around them. Here they 
rested and refreshed themselves and at last thor- 
oughly invigorated wandered out to enjoy the pano- 
rama of mountains, hills and valleys, hamlets, stream 
and lakes, spread out before their eyes whichever 
way they wandered. Absorbed and silent, they drank 



Lost on the Trail 323 

in the beauties of the landscape while time went on 
unnoticed. 

To the west the glorious sun, yet high in the heavens 
was tinting the gathering clouds peeping above the 
distant horizon, with such transcendent colors that 
they did not heed or rather did not comprehend the 
significance of the solid bank of sombre clouds mass- 
ing low down in the west. All at once Janet heard 
an attendant exclaim in a matter-of-fact tone, " Storm 
clouds." Aroused she looked at her w^atch and found 
that the day was nearly spent and that the tourists 
were all gone. 

Fresh and full of vigor, the girls set out along the 
trail for the farmliouse five miles away. Although 
the gloom of the forest seemed to deepen, and the 
ominous mutter of distant thunder in the west brought 
anxious thoughts to Janet, still, on the downward 
trail, the first mile of descent was covered with ease. 
But the darkness came on apace, the glare of light- 
ning was seen through tree-tops, and it needed 
vigilant attention to distinguish the path in the 
gathering gloom. 

Suddenly the black clouds seemed to envelop the 
mountain, and the darkness became intense and the 
tree-tops swayed and groaned in a mighty wind. 
The girls, thoroughh^ alarmed, clung together under 
a lofty pine, when, with a blinding glare and with a 
rattling crash of heaven's artillery, followed by a 
booming roar that seemed to fill the whole universe, 
the flood gates of the storm poured down upon them. 
The blinding flash, the booming thunder which seemed 



324 Lost on the Trail 

to roll down the mountain bounding from cliff to 
cliff, the swish of the tree-tops, the rending and fall- 
ing of some monarch of the forest, brought terror 
when they realized that in their bewilderment they 
had wandered from the trail and could not regain it; 
and when the vast sheets of chilly water seemed to 
envelop them as with a flood, they sank to the sodden 
earth in dismay, in affright. Thus they lay with 
brains sodden with terror, half unconscious, wholly 
despairing. The storm rolled on, the lightning be- 
came fitful, while the thunder, in the distance, seemed 
to bound from mountain-top to mountain-top and 
gradually ceased its growling, like a wild beast that 
had fought and vanquished its foe'. 

With the passing of the storm came the fear of 
forest life, and in the intense darkness of the night 
they seemed to hear the panting of the beasts of prey 
and the hiss of reptiles. Once they thought they 
heard the sound of a gunshot, and then with listening 
ear, a faint halloo below them, but they knew not 
north, south, east, or west and barely earth or sky, 
their despair was so overwhelming. 

They dared not lie on the earth for fear of crawling 
things, and hastily arising, clung together as they 
groped in the darkness and found the support of a 
tree to which they clung as though it was human. 

At last with eyes wild and staring, trying to pierce 
the impenetrable darkness, and with a frenzy akin to 
madness, Janet with all her soul and strength sent 
out a wailing cry for help and buried her face on 
Hazel's shoulder. " Hark," she cried in a whisper. 




On the Prospect Mountain Trail. 



Rescue ' 325 

Far away down the mountain was heard the faintest 
sound of a human cry, so faint that it seemed to the 
poor girl but the echo of her own despairing voice. 
But with the strength of a trained vocaHst, she again 
pealed forth a long-drawn halloo. Bending forward 
she eagerly waited for a response. It came in a 
pistol-shot, and then a well-known human call in three 
notes, faint but distinct. Hazel lay at the foot of 
the tree in a deep sleep of exhaustion, but Janet stood 
forth under the dripping leaves, and with hands 
crossed on her breast and face raised to heaven, she 
sang with the full power of her glorious voice, " Praise 
God." Answering shots came from all directions 
mingled with joyous though distant cries, and she 
continued to respond with snatches of songs that rang 
out joyously, hopefully, through the cathedral aisles 
of the forest. Soon she saw the glimmer of a lantern, 
then five, ten, twenty lights twinkling in a semicircle 
so far away that they seemed like the faint glimmer 
of fire-flies. Still she walked in a circumscribed 
circle around the tree at the foot of which Hazel 
slumbered sobbingly. Arousing her, Janet told of 
the rescuing party near at hand, and kept her moving 
to arouse the sluggish blood in the chilled veins, still 
answering the cries that came louder and louder, until 
with a cry of joy the rescuers sprang through the 
thickets. 

Wrapped in blankets brought by their friends, 
Janet and Hazel, with a man on each side, were hur- 
ried down the trail, preceded by a score of lanterns. 
Notwithstanding dishevelled hair, tear-stained faces. 



326 Rescue 

and drenched garments clinging to their chilled forms, 
it was a happy party that entered the hospitable doors 
of the old farmhouse in the early dawn of a glorious 
day. 



CHAPTER XXVI 



DIAMOND ISLAND 



** A XT" HAT island is that we are coming to?" the 
' ^ Professor asked the oarsman who was 
rowing our boat. 

" Diamond Island," replied Joe. 

** Why, that must be the island that was fortified 
during the Revolutionary War," I remarked. 

" Sure," replied Joe. 

" Did you ever hear the story about that island? " 
continued Joe, as we passed it. 

" No! tell it," said the Professor. 

" Well, it was many years ago, and I had the story 
from my father who said it was true. 

" It was after the Revolution and the settlers had 
a hard time to make both ends meet. A man by the 
name of Jost Storm kept a lot of hogs near the shore 
of the lake which he would kill and sell as pork, and 
at times sell them * on the hoof.' One day he sold 
six hogs and a boar to a farmer on the other side of 
the lake, agreeing to deliver them. 

" I forgot to tell you that at that time there were 
a great many rattlesnakes on Diamond Island, hun- 
dreds of them, some say thousands. At least there 
were so many of them that no one dared go near it. 

327 



328 Diamond Island 

Father said that there were so many and they were 
so hold that they would swim out to passing boats, 
seemingly to attack them. 

" Well, one morning old man Storm started out in 
a bateau to deliver the hogs to the purchaser across 
the lake, and the nearest way to reach his place was 
to go by the island. The boat was not very large 
for a bateau, and the seven hogs and the man and 
his son loaded it down pretty well. I don't know 
exactly how it happened, but the hogs all at once 
rushed to the side of the boat, which careened and 
filled, and in a moment the whole cargo was in the 
water. Father said that the hogs smelled the rattle- 
snakes. 

" Well, sir, the hogs swam straight for the island 
and disappeared in the brush, but the boat, relieved 
of its load, floated to the surface and, although water- 
logged, made a very good raft, and the men, leaving 
the hogs among the rattlesnakes, paddled, somehow, 
to shore." 

"Well, what became of the hogs?" asked the 
Professor. 

Joe laughed quietly as he said: "You know that 
the man who owned the hogs did not dare go after 
them out of fear of the rattlers, and winter coming 
on, he was taken sick, and having but little ambition, 
he gave up the hogs as lost, being sure that they 
were soon killed by the snakes. But during the com- 
ing summer, his son Jim, a vigorous fearless young 
man, would occasionally remark to the old man, 
' Father, I wonder what has become of those hogs.' " 



Diamond Island 329 

" ' I don't know and I don't care/ Mr. Storm would 
reply. 

" Nearly three years after, Jim made up his mind 
that he would find out, so he arranged with a friend 
that they should visit the island and learn, if possible, 
what had become of the hogs. Protecting themselves 
with long heavy boots, thick gloves, heavy sheepskin 
coats, and armed with shotguns, a good supply of 
buckshot, and two hickory clubs, they took boat and 
pushed from shore without making known to any 
one the object of their excursion. 

" Slowly they approached the shore of Diamond 
Island, watching closely for rattlesnakes, which had 
always been visible along the beach, but none were 
seen. Cautiously they went ashore and approached 
the higher gromid, but no snakes were visible, and 
nothing was seen of the hogs. (They did, however, 
have the satisfaction of killing one snake a little 
later. ) 

" Growing bolder they explored the whole island 
and at last, in a clearing they saw a hog-wallow and 
near at hand they found the hogs. But instead of 
seven there were sixteen of the fattest hogs they ever 
saw, but not a snake except the lonesome one they 
had killed. 

" It took three trips with the bateau to get those 
hogs ashore. 

" As it was hog-killing time, they killed a few of 
the hogs, and sir, every one they killed was full of 
rattlesnakes." 

You must know that the Professor has a very 



330 Diamond Island 

innocent, childlike expression, which he puts on once 
in a while. Turning to Joe he asked, " Were they 
alive?" 

" Some of them," rephed Joe without a smile. 

After a pause he continued: " There was another 
queer thing about those hogs. One of them had a 
litter of pigs shortly afterwards, and sir, every one 
of the piglets had a rattle on the end of its tail." 

We floated on in silence. 

"But," said the Professor, " he did not sell the pork, 
did he?" 

" Yes, one man made some sausages of the pork. 
He said it tasted all right, but he had to watch it 
while frying, because it tried to crawl out of the 
frying-pan." 

" But, Joe," said I, " history tells us that there 
were entrenchments on the island during the Revolu- 
tion, what has become of them? " 

" Hogs," said Joe. 

" What do you mean by ' hogs ' ? " said I. 

" Why, the hogs levelled the entrenchments root- 
ing for rattlesnakes." 

In Holden's History of Queenshury, I find the 
following account of the incident at Diamond Island. 

In September, 1777, Baron Riedesel, while located 
at the old site of Fort Amherst in the vicinity of 
Halfway Brook,^ sent back some supplies to Diamond 
Island, near the south end of Lake George, and two 
companies of the 47th Regiment to garrison the place. 

1 The primitive fortification at Halfway Brook was sometimes 
called Fort Amherst. 




o 



a!L 



Attack on Diamond Island 331 

The entrenchments of the post were placed in com- 
mand of Captain Aubrey of the 47th. Somewhat 
later his force was strengthened by the addition of 
a company of artillery. 

On September 24th, Colonel Brown, then in pos- 
session of the outworks of Fort Ticonderoga, sent an 
expedition of captured gunboats and bateaux, in two 
divisions to attack Diamond Island. The British 
account says : " The enemy were repulsed by Captain 
Aubrey with great loss and pursued by gunboats 
under his command to the east shore, where two of 
their principal vessels were retaken together with all 
their cannon. 

" They had just time to set fire to the other bateaux 
and retreat over the mountains." 

The British batteries were placed at the north end 
of the island. After Colonel Brown's repulse, he 
was driven into Van Wormer's Bay, when, after de- 
stroying his bateaux, he made his way across the 
Dresden Mountains, to Skenesboro, which had been 
taken possession of by General Lincoln on the 17th, 
with a force of seven hundred men. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

THE FORTY-FIFTH PAKALLEL OF NORTH LATITUDE 

THE treaty between the United States and Great 
Britain which terminated the War of 1812 was 
held at Ghent, Belgium, in the summer of 1814 and 
ratified February 17, 1815. 

We have nothing to do at the present time with 
any of the articles of the treaty except that which 
provides for the settlement of the boundary line, 
known in the Treaty of 1783 as the forty-fifth 
parallel. 

I am indebted to State Historian Victor Hugo 
Paltsits for the following valuable information, which 
he derived from an examination of Prof. John 
Bassett JNIoore's History and Digest of the Inter- 
national Arbitrations to which the United States has 
been a Party, vol. i. (Washington, 1898), pp. 80, 
104-5, 106, 112, 119, 127, 135-6, 150-1. 

After the Treaty of Ghent, Great Britain and the 
United States appointed commissioners for surveying 
and exploring the boundaries between the United 
States and Canada. It was during the life of this 
joint commission that most surprising differences 
arose over the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude. 
In the autumn of 1818 Dr. Tiarks and ]Mr. Hassler, 
then the British and American astronomers, discov- 

332 




ki 
o 



c 

a; 
be 

o 

0) 



c3 



Forty-fifth Parallel 333 

ered, apparently to the consternation of both of them, 
that just east of Lake Champlain the true parallel 
lay about three-fourths of a mile south of the " Old 
Line," which was surveyed in the preceding century. 
Less than half a mile to the south of this line lay the 
fort at Rouse Point, which had been constructed by 
the United States at a cost of a million dollars and 
which was believed to be of great strategic value ; and 
near by was a new work in course of construction; so 
that it seemed that both forts were in British territory. 
There was no doubt as to the fact. The old line 
was in certain parts erroneous. The British and 
American commissioners disagreed and adjourned 
in 1821, subject to the pleasure of their respective 
governments. 

The failure of the above mentioned commissioners, 
under Article V. of the Treaty of Ghent, to render 
a decision on the northeastern boundary question, im- 
posed upon the two governments the duty of refer- 
ring the " reports of the said commissioners to some 
friendly sovereign or State to be then named for that 
purpose" (Treaty of December 24, 1814, Article 
IV. ) . As now known, they referred the matter to 
King William of the Netherlands, who, on January 
10, 1831, rendered his award as arbitrator, including 
the following opinion, viz.: 

" That in determining the latitude of places it is 
customary to follow the principle of the observed 
latitude ; 

" And that the Government of the United States 
of America has erected certain fortifications at the 



334 Forty-fifth Parallel 

place called Rouse Point, under the impression that 
the ground formed part of their territory — an im- 
pression sufficiently authorized by the circumstance 
that the line had, until then, been reputed to corre- 
spond with the 45th degree of north latitude; 

" WE ARE OF OPINION I 

" That it would be suitable to proceed to fresh 
operations to measure the observed latitude in order 
to mark out the boundary from the river Connecticut 
along the parallel of the 45th degree of north lati- 
tude to the river St. Lawrence, named in the treaties 
Iroquois or Cataraquy, in such manner however that, 
in all cases, at the place called Rouse Point, the 
territory of the United States of America shall ex- 
tend to the fort erected at that place, and shall in- 
clude said fort and its kilometrical radius (rayon 
kilometnque) . 

In effect, the arbitrator held that the forty-fifth 
parallel of north latitude should be determined by 
the customary principle of observed latitude, with- 
out regard to prior surveys, but expressed the opin- 
ion that the United States should be left in the 
possession of the fort at Rouse Point. This opin- 
ion was actually accepted by the Ashburton Treaty 
of 1842. 

From The Northern Traveller, published by A. T. 
Goodrich (New York, 1826, p. 186). 

ROUSE POINT, 12 miles. 

" There is a village by this name, on the western 
side; and a mile beyond it. 

" The fort, which is a kind of large castle, is built 









\ 






i^ 



X 



5t= 

o 



Fort Blunder 335 

of hewn stone, with perpendicular walls, and three 
tiers of embrasures. It stands at the end of a low 
point, and was built to command the passage of the 
lake during the last war. On running the line of 
the United States and Canada, the commissioners at 
first fixed the boundary a little south of this place, 
so as to bring the fort within the limits of the latter; 
but in consequence of the line agreed on by the treaty 
coming too near Quebec, it was determined that an 
arrangement should be made for the benefit of both 
parties; and the boundary has been left in its former 
place. An opening through the woods, like a road, 
marks the place, about half a mile north of the fort." 
From French's Gazetteer of 1860 I cull additional 
information. 

Rouse Point Is named for Jacques Rouse a Cana- 
dian who settled here in 1753. A bridge a mile long 
here crosses the lake. A floating draw of three 
hundred feet, opened and shut by steam, admits the 
passage of vessels. 

About one mile north of the village, upon the banks 
of the lake, Fort INIontgomery is situated. This fort 
commands the entrance to the lake. It was begun 
soon after the War of 1812, but in 1818, it was fomid 
to be within the limits of Canada and the work w^as 
abandoned. It became known as " Fort Blunder," 
but by the Webster Treaty of 1842, it was ceded again 
to the United States. Work upon it has been re- 
sumed, and it is estimated that the completed works 
will cost $600,000 of which $275,000 has already been 
expended. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

BOLTON — MOHICAN HOUSE, EN ROUTE NORTH 

T AKE GEORGE, located entirely in Warren 
*^ County, is bordered on the west by the towns 
of Caldwell, Bolton, Hague, and a part of Ticon- 
deroga, all of whose boundaries extend to the east 
shore of the lake; this line also being the eastern 
boundary of Warren County. 

The town of Bolton is perhaps the oldest settle- 
ment on the lake, having been formed from the town 
of Thurman in 1799; the town of Hague being taken 
from Bolton in 1807. Rogers Rock, which rises from 
the water's edge at an angle of 45°, and reaches an 
elevation of three hundred feet, and Sabbath-day 
Point on the lake, are also in the town of Hague. 
Sabbath-day Point is generally supposed to have re- 
ceived its name from the fact that General Aber- 
crombie embarked from this point on a Sunday, July 
8, 1758, for his disastrous attack on Fort Ticonde- 
roga. It is said, however, to have borne this name 
previous to that date, even as early as 1756 (see 
Rogers's Journal) . 

Within the limits of this town is the most beautiful 
scenery on the lake, comprising, as it does, a mul- 
titude of islands, small and great, and in its fore- 

336 



Bolton 337 

ground Elephant INIountain, Black Mountain, Buck 
Mountain, Pilot Mountain, and Tongue Mountain, 
while its western boundary is the picturesque Scarron 
River and lake. 

There are many natural elements that conspire 
to make the water boundaries of the town both 
beautiful and grand. I have spoken of the moun- 
tains, and the great Black Mountain, and the 
noble outline of Buck Mountain, and the grouping 
of the many islands, especially those of the nar- 
rows, about two miles north of Bolton Landing, but 
the islands of the narrows extend for nine miles 
north, in picturesque confusion, and while steaming 
north one gives up all hope of counting them and is 
content to assume that the popular opinion of their 
number, that is, an island for each day in the year, 
is correct with, perhaps, a few odds and ends thrown 
in for leap year. 

A visitor landing from the steamer is apt to think 
that he sees all there is of Bolton, in the vicinity of 
Bolton Landing, where visitors congregate on account 
of the hotels. In this vicinitj^ is the quaint little 
Church of St. Sacrement, perpetuating the name 
given to the lake by the Jesuit Father Isaac Jogues. 

A little farther south along the main road and 
a cross-road, we come to Bolton proper, which bears 
the euphonious name of the Huddle; and that por- 
tion of Bolton Bay in the vicinity of the hamlet is 
also called Huddle Bay. 

I have frequently stopped at the Algonquin Hotel, 
which is situated on Huddle Bay. The route of the 



33^ Huddle Bay 

steamer is about one-half mile to the east, passing 
between Dome Island on the east and Recluse Island 
on the west. From the shore, Huddle Bay appears 
to be landlocked; the arrangement of the number of 
small islands being such, that the white steamers can- 
not be seen from the shore, except for a fleeting in- 
stant through the trees of Clay Island. There is 
something weird in the unexpected passing of the 
silent vessel, which appears and disappears, that is 
fairly ghostly, suggesting, as it does, a twentieth cen- 
tury Flying Dutchman. This cluster of small islands 
which landlock this sheet of water are named as 
follows: Sweetbriar, Leontine, Hiawatha, Clay, 
and Recluse Island. A short peninsula to the north 
helps to shut in this quiet spot. The bay being shal- 
low, steamers cannot approach, but a nondescript ves- 
sel, which looks like a cross between a mud-scow and 
an Erie Canal tug, transports baggage and pas- 
sengers to the secluded hotels in the Huddle. Back 
of the Algonquin Hotel, a range of hills rises to an 
elevation of six or seven hundred feet, giving an early 
twilight, whereas the ponderous bulk of Buck Moun- 
tain, on the other side of the lake, is still bathed in 
sunlight three hours later. 

One afternoon I sat in the boat-house, enjoying the 
blue of the waters of the bay, the bright green of the 
wooded islands in the foreground, the sombre tints of 
old Buck Mountain and the fleckless blue of the sky. 
Suddenly the boom and rumble of thunder broke 
upon the ear, and looking up I became aware that 
thunder-clouds had stolen up behind the hills back 




m 



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o 



3 
o 



' Bolton Road 339 

of the hotel, and it needed a hurry and a scurry to 
escape a wetting before I could reach the hotel not 
a hundred yards away. 

jMy last visit to Bolton was in the early part of 
July, 1909, when preparation had been completed for 
the grand Tercentenary of the Occupation of the 
Champlain Valley by Samuel de Champlain, in 1609. 
The grand Fort William Henry Hotel, with its 
beautiful fa9ade of Corinthian columns, lay a smok- 
ing ruin and had almost a tearful aspect to those who 
had lolled at ease on its grand piazza and contem- 
plated the unrivalled beauty of the scenery from its 
leafy environment. 

The Bolton road was our objective point. It is 
said that distance lends enchantment to the view, but 
we found so many charming views of handsome villas, 
near at hand, some beautified by artistic landscape 
gardening, others embowered in primitive forest 
growths, that the time sped as fast as our auto- 
mobile, and the twilight of a beautiful July day came 
all too soon. The camera gave us the first memento 
of this trip with a view of Tea Island, about a mile 
north of the village of Lake George. We lingered 
a while along the rock-bound shore, north of the 
INIarion House, but hurried on to landlocked Huddle 
Bay (Bolton), at which point the Professor was so 
obsessed with artistic fervor, that he became lost to 
sight for an hour, but returned with his camera filled 
with plates of exquisite beauty, the gem being the 
Church of St. Sacrement with its gray stone walls, 
covered with ivy of most luxuriant growth. 



340 Church of St. Sacrement 

Near Bolton Landing, this church stands on a rocky 
eminence. On two sides it is protected by a low stone 
wall, winding around and creeping up to the level 
of the churchyard. Low broad steps of primeval 
rock make it easy to mount the acclivity of this rocky 
promontory. In front of the church and a little to 
the north is a timbered campanile somewhat re- 
sembling an hour-glass in form, within which a bell 
is hung in an open cupola, to sound the angelus to 
the faithful. It is said that to Samuel de Champlain 
belongs the honor of introducing the angelus in 
America. 

On our return to Lake George, over the macadam 
of the Bolton road at a speed of forty miles an hour, 
it seemed that we were breasting a great wind, but 
the Professor called my attention to the fact that the 
leaves of the trees were motionless, and that we were 
the tornado, instead of the gentle zephyr we were 
cleaving in our mad flight. On the side of the road, 
midway between Bolton and Lake George, w^e passed a 
roof-dismantled log hut of the most primeval constric- 
tion. It was one story high with one door and window 
in front, evidently the rude home of an early settler. 

Back to Lake George, we wandered up a side 
street under the shadow of Prospect ]Mountain with 
its dismantled cable railway and the sombre green 
of its forest growths. 

The sun had declined behind the mountain, bath- 
ing the little Church of St. James in its shadow, which 
seemed almost a replica of the Church of St. Sacre- 




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P4 



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o 



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o 

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fa 



Mohican House 341 

ment at Bolton Landing. Both churches were closed 
and nobody was near that could give us any informa- 
tion, but later through the kindness of the Treasurer 
of St. Sacrement, Mr. F. W. Allen, I learned that 
the Church of St. Sacrement was built in 1868, largely 
through the efforts of Miss Henrietta Thierot — now 
Mrs. Charles H. Meade; that the corner-stone was 
laid in 1867; that the first clergj^man in charge was 
Rev. W. F. Lewis ; and that the present rector is Rev. 
Dwight R. Parce, the senior warden, being John B. 
Simpson, New York City. 

The Church of St. James at Lake George seems to 
have been erected in 1856, destroyed by a tornado 
May 13, 1866, and re-erected in 1868. The first 
rector was Rev. R. F. Crary. 

At present, George W. Bates is senior warden; 
George T. Peabody, junior warden; R. E. Archibald, 
treasurer and clerk. 

One of the most interesting houses at Bolton was 
the INIohican House, whose name, perhaps, was origi- 
nally given to it by some admirer of Cooper's Leather- 
stocking Tales. It is said to have been the oldest 
hostelry on the lake. In 1880 S. R. Stoddard wrote 
as follows: 

" The name was given to the house a long time 
ago. On the flag-staff that used to stand out toward 
the dock was erected a wicked-looking warrior, won- 
derfully made, who, with tomahawk in hand, per- 
petually on the war-path, stood, through summer's 



342 Huletts Landing 

sun and winter's storm, keeping grim vigil over the 
surrounding country. 

" A part of the frame of the present hotel was 
erected away back before the beginning of the pres- 
ent century, and is said to be the oldest one standing 
in the country. It is also said that on the point where 
the dock now stands was once a building, destroyed 
in 1800, which had been used by a band of smugglers, 
as an entrepot for contraband goods brought through 
from Canada." 

From Mr. E. G. Penfield, I have obtained further 
information in regard to the ^lohican House. About 
the beginning of the twentieth century the old house 
was purchased by W. K. Bixby. The old building 
w^as subsequently torn down and a handsome Colonial 
residence built on its site. The grounds around the 
residence are spacious and have been improved so that 
it is now one of the most attractive places on the lake. 

I am indebted also to ^Ir. Penfield for a photograph 
of the old building taken in 1898, its last year as a 
hotel. 

Huletts Landing, although I do not know much 
about it, appeals to me from the fact that the little 
flat land extending east into the gorge between Black 
Mountain and Spruce Mountain soon dies away in 
a narrow road, which reaches to an elevation of eleven 
hundred feet within two miles, and after a winding 
road of perhaps six miles, passes through the little 
post town of Dresden, and finally reaches the level 
of Lake Champlain at Chubb's dock. 

The architecture at Huletts is quite unique, and 



The Mountains 343 

its method of advertising is attractive to hunters and 
fishers. It says: "Amusements are, hunting and fish- 
ing with dancing." I am not sure whether the danc- 
ing goes with the fishing or with the hunting, but it is 
surelj^ an attractive adjunct to either sport. I as- 
sume that partners are furnished, either with rod or 
gun. Near Huletts Landing, as we go north, we 
seem to have emerged from the many beautiful 
islands, small and large, that have beset our pathless 
path for many miles. 

We passed Tongue Mountain on the west, and 
have rounded Shelving Rock whose hotel and en- 
vironment tempt the tourist to add it to his itinerary. 
The great bulks of Buck JNIountain, Elephant and 
Sugarloaf Peak, and even Black Mountain, which 
have obsessed us for hours, are fading away to the 
south in the haze of an August day. At Sabbath- 
day Point the lake shores draw near, with the high- 
lands on the east still frowning on us, while on the 
west, they seem to have retreated, leaving a wide space 
of low, rolling land with meadows and fields of grain, 
and space for the small settlement at this historic 
spot. As one steams along north he sees spots which 
attract attention, more for the quiet beauty of the sur- 
roundings than the grandeur of its buildings, such 
as Silver Bay. Again the lake widens until, near 
Hague, it is two miles wide. Here, also, the moun- 
tains have drawn away on the west side of the lake, 
leaving the space for the village of Hague, on the 
low land near the shore, while extending back for 
three or four miles are hills and rolling land of slight 



344 Anthony's Nose 

elevations, until about five miles away Beach Moun- 
tain resumes the sway of high altitude, with an 
elevation of two thousand feet. 

As the steamer with the swish, swish of its engine, 
approaches Friendly Point the huge bulk of An- 
thony's Nose looms up in its precipitous height, 
a mile away, seemingly barring the way to the 
north. 

As we round the point we are reminded of S. R. 
Stoddard's story of the wreck of the John Jay in 
1856 (written nearly thirty years ago) . A fire broke 
out in the engine-room of the vessel. Blinded by the 
smoke, the pilot, in attempting to beach the steamer, 
ran on a rock; the vessel rebounding slid back into 
deep w^ater and burned to the water's edge. Old 
Dick, a walking " moving picture show," was on board 
carrying an oblong green box with hinged cover, un- 
der which was a glass. The box was supported by 
a leather strap slung over his shoulder. 

Half a century ago these intinerant showmen were 
frequently seen in small villages and on roads in the 
rural district. Old Dick's particular line was " rattell 
snaicks." When the boat struck the rock, the box 
of snakes slid into the lake. In some manner the 
cover had become loose or perhaps the glass had 
broken, but from one end of the box the snakes' heads 
were seen weaving to and fro, while at the other end 
a little girl clung for her life. The horror of the 
child as the heads of her fellow-voyagers swayed 
back and forth in their precarious vessel may be 
imagined. The box was washed ashore, the snakes 



Indian Kettles 345 

quickly made for the jungle, and the child was 
rescued. 

Beyond this point, to the west, is a place called 
Indian Kettles, from some curious rock formation 
along the shore, depressions probably made by the 
action of water in ages past. Having the appear- 
ance of metates or mortars used by the Aborigines 
in pounding their corn or preparing meal for their 
primitive food, it is probable that some of these de- 
pressions or holes may have been used by Indians 
for that purpose, but as there is no evidence of a 
permanent village in this vicinity, it is not likely that 
these " pot holes " were made by them. 

East of Indian Kettles, on the east side of the 
lake is Blair's Bay, while north, three miles away, 
looms up the rounded height of Rogers Rock. 

It may be that climatic or atmospheric conditions 
had made the water more green, the sky more blue, the 
sunlight more golden, but true it is, that previous to 
the period of which I am writing, I had never seen 
so many of nature's elements conspire to beautify 
the landscape, as on this August morning when last 
I steamed up Lake George. Nor have I seen a spot 
on the lake more grand or picturesque. 

The widening of the lake, by the indentation of 
Blair's Baj^ brought out the contour of Anthony's 
Nose, while the vista of the narrowing waters beyond 
revealed the highlands at the north, as I had never 
observed them before. The lowlands east and west 
accentuated the height of the Nose and Rogers 
Rock, and the Mount Defiance range, springing from 



346 Highlands at the Outlet 

Anthony's Nose, seemed to have taken on new beauty 
of slope, of curve, of peak. 

The bare rock forming the face of Anthony's 
Nose, denoting inaccessibility, suggests the idea of 
a medieval fortress of the Old JNlan of the Moun- 
tains, whose profile is not visible from the deck of 
the steamer. It is said the greatest depth of water 
on the lake, perhaps eighty fathoms, is found under 
its shadow. 

As we approach Rogers Rock Hotel, the high- 
lands vanish and the vallej'- of the outlet of the lake 
is guarded only by Cooks Mountain, on the west, and 
the gradually diminishing slope of JNIount Defiance, 
on the east, as it fades away and ends on the shore 
of Lake Champlain. 

At the landing at Baldwin one is beset with a feel- 
ing of loneliness, although it is far from being a 
lonely place. For a short time each day, however, 
this place is all action. The Sagamore is in sight up 
the lake; the rumble of the incoming train is heard; 
the steamer approaches with a wide detour and 
makes the landing, and the gangplank connects you 
with the shore. 

The train arrives, and soon two streams of pas- 
sengers are hurrying along the dock, from train to 
steamer and from steamer to train, in needless haste, 
forgetting that the transportation company is as 
anxious for their patronage as they are for their 
transportation. For a space of fifteen minutes there 
is almost as much action as in the unloading of a 
Hudson River steamer. The steamer sounds its 




bJD 



Rogers Rock 347 

whistle and slowly pulls away from the dock; the 
long train of cars steams away, and this little pocket 
of the mountains is left " to silence and to me." 

Memories throng upon me. I am standing on his- 
toric ground. This narrow channel has been crowded 
with troops in battle array. The Aborigines, naked 
and fiercely cruel; the flower of the French army, 
under Tracey; British troops, scouts, and rangers. 
Continental soldiers, and backwoodsmen have been 
massed on these waters or along the narrow trail. 

A few miles to the north is Ticonderoga with its 
gruesome memories, while to the south is Rogers 
Slide, Rogers Rock, and Rogers Rock Hotel. 
We recall the disastrous battle on the mountain, we 
hear the war-cry of the Indians and look eagerly at 
the bare rock expecting to see the accoutrements of 
Captain Rogers sliding swiftly down its surface; but 
we remember, suddenly, that there is no ice on the lake, 
no snow for the tracks of the snow-shoes, and we 
awake to the beauties of the park-like environment 
of this vicinity, the central object being Rogers Rock 
Hotel. 

Although this spot has been occupied many years 
by a hotel bearing this name, we are told that this 
property was bought by JNIr. David Williams of New 
York in 1903, and that he made subsequent purchases 
until now the Rogers Rock property includes two 
mountains from " lake to summit." Extensive drives 
and paths, and judicious landscape gardening, with 
flower gardens and well-kept lawns, have trans- 
formed this spot into a park of picturesque beauty. 



3^8 Rogers Rock 

while its environment for miles east, west, and south, 
is grandly majestic, in its vista of scenic sublimity. In 
fact, one feels as though any evidence of the handiwork 
of man would mar its primitive grandeur, unless it 
might be a birchen canoe. 



CHAPTER XXIX 



CHAMPLAIN CANAL 



T AKE CHAMPLAIN has been variously called 
^-^ Corlear Lake, Lake Hiracois (1666), Lake 
Iroquois (Algonquin) 1609. 

The word Iroquois is thought to be of Algonquin 
origin, from the fact that the suffix quois is or was 
applied to the Algonquin tribes of New France 
(Canada) and has the same meaning, " people of," as 
the suffix r 072071 or rho7io7i annexed to the names of 
the different tribes of the Five Nations, in the Huron- 
Iroquois language. 

Thus Abenaquois means the " People of the Tribe 
of the Abenakis"; Agnierrhonons (Mohawks), the 
" People of the Flint " ; Iroquois, the " People of 
the Long House," or Ho-de-no-sau-ne. 

Up to this point I have dwelt upon the warlike his- 
tory of this lake, the moving of large bodies of trained 
troops, the scouting parties of intrepid rangers, the 
stealthily murderous raids of dusky warriors. I 
have also given an account of the courageous pioneer 
husbandmen establishing peaceful homes. But there 
is an important commercial history connected with 
this body of water, which cannot be ignored. 

The discovery of the upper waterway of the St. 

349 



350 Iroquois 

Lawrence River and the river Sorel (Richelieu), in 
1609, by Samuel de Champlain, and the almost simul- 
taneous discovery of the Hudson River by Henry 
Hudson, representatives of two different nations, led 
to important results in North America. The Algon- 
quin tribes of the St. Lawrence eagerly sought an 
alliance with the French; and the Iroquois of the 
Mohawk Valley with the Dutch in order to obtain 
firearms, with which to revenge themselves for their 
humiliating defeat on the lake of the Iroquois. 

The Mohawks were of course familiar with the 
w^atercourses leading to their northern enemies, and 
through this tribe, the Dutch early became cognizant of 
the importance of water communications between the 
Hudson and the St. Lawrence by way of the lake of 
the Iroquois and the river of the Iroquois. Settlements 
were established along the Hudson and the Mohawk 
by the Dutch, and the natural watercourses between 
the colonies of France and the Dutch early became 
the route of intercourse in time of peace, and the 
war-path of the colonists and their Indian allies in 
time of war; the ^lohawk River, connecting with 
Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes, and the Hudson 
and Lake Champlain, with the river St. Lawrence. 

For more than a century and a half the Mohawk 
River had been used as a barge canal in its pri- 
mitive state when, in 1791-1795, the Inland Lock and 
Navigation Company made surveys for the canaliza- 
tion of this river, which led to some improvement of 
its channel, and the building of locks at Little Falls 
and Fort Stanwix. This attempt suggested artificial 




CI 

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o 



Inland Lock and Navigation Co. 351 

waterways, and finally in 1816-17 to the beginning of 
the Champlain and the Erie canals. 

Upon the conquest of Canada in 1760 by the Eng- 
lish Government, the Champlain and Hudson valleys 
became more fulh^ developed than the JNIohawk Valley, 
the western part of which remained in a wild state 
for a number of decades. 

The arguments in favor of the construction of the 
Champlain Canal were many and various. It was 
truly said that with lumber, mines, water-power, 
agriculture and grazing lands, and other sources of 
wealth, it was bountifully provided. It was further 
said that " within that tract, embracing the border-s 
of Lake George, and the timber lands north and west 
of the great falls of Luzerne, there were annually 
made millions of feet of boards, planks, and square 
timber, consisting of oak, white and yellow pine, be- 
side dock logs, scantling and other timber to a great 
amount. The territory bordering on Lake Cham- 
plain abounded in wood, timber, masts, spars, and 
lumber of all kinds." In the northern part of the 
State was found iron in almost inexhaustible quantities 
and of excellent quality, left unworked in the mines; 
also fine marble in Vermont which lay useless in the 
quarry. 

The advantages to the State were summed up by 
the commissioners as follows: 

" In short the connection of Lake Champlain with 
the Hudson, by means of the proposed Champlain 
canal, would greatly enhance the value of northern 
lands; it would save great sums in transportation; 



352 Champlain Canal 

it would open new and increasing sources of wealth; 
it would divert from the province of lower Canada 
and turn to the south the profits of the trade of Lake 
Champlain, and impart activity and enterprise to 
agricultural, commercial, and mechanical pursuits, and 
add to our industries and resources." 

In a great measure, most of these hopes were 
realized. Burlington, Vermont, became the second 
largest lumber district in the United States, Albany 
being the foremost. In the one article of woollen cloth 
of domestic manufacture, there were made in Wash- 
ington County in 1823, 331,258 yards and there were 
41 grist-mills and 130 saw-mills. Saratoga County 
produced 171,789 yards of domestic woollens, while 
New York County is credited with only 2540 yards. 

The era after the War of 1812-14 seems to have 
been one of great activity in the Champlain Valley, 
and in 1823 we find steam navigation introduced on 
the lake and all industries stimulated by the com- 
pletion of the Champlain Canal, which turned the 
tide of transportation from the north to the south. 

The table of tolls received from this canal shows 
a comparatively steady increase from 1823, when the 
receipts from tolls were $26,000. The receipts for 
tolls reached the maximum during the years 1866- 
67-68 when the amount was nearly $200,000. From 
that date there was a steady decrease, the year 1882 
showing receipts for tolls only $37,819. The con- 
struction of railroads, however, though it diverted 
freight from the canal, increased the average amount 
of trade throughout the whole valley. 




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CHAPTER XXX 

POINTE DE LA CHEVELURE 

(Crown Point) 

IWl ID-DAY, July 27, 1909, found us en route to 
^ ' ^ the wharf of the steamer Vermont,, on Lake 
Champlain. Without a map, the environment of the 
village of Ticonderoga puzzles one, and renders it 
difficult to find the points of the compass, north, south, 
east, and west seeming to change places in a bewilder- 
ing way. 

We were told that our train was ready, and to get 
aboard. As we mounted the steps we became aware 
that the locomotive was pointed towards Lake George 
instead of Lake Champlain. We got off and put- 
ting a question to a railroad official, received the usual 
ambiguous reply; but it seemed an abstruse problem 
until all at once our three minds working together 
comprehended the obvious solution — our train was to 
back down to the lake. 

Our trip down the lake was one of unalloyed pleas- 
ure. We noticed a restored portion of Fort Ticon- 
deroga on the hill and the Pell Mansion on the shore. 
Also the ferry of the D. & H. R. R. near Larrabee's 
Point, and its ponderous pontoon draw, which, when 

»3 353 



354 Pointe de la Chevelure 

closed, allows trains to cross the lake into Vermont. 
Also the bluff of Mount Independence opposite the 
steamer dock. 

But our greatest interest and the supreme object 
of our journey was the Peninsula of Crown Point, 
which is two miles long and one mile wide separated 
from the western mainland at Port Henrj^ by Bul- 
wagga Bay, a body of water of practically the same 
dimensions as Crown Point, or Pointe de la Chevelure, 
as it was named by the French. Its history is re- 
corded {q. V.) and will not be told now. Its queer 
name, Bulwagga, is said to have been of Indian 
origin, meaning false lake, and to early carto- 
graphers the narrow elongation of Lake Champlain 
was called Wood Creek, the extreme southern part 
being called " the Great ' Marias.' " 

Necessarily the lake turns to the west from Wood 
Creek at the northern end of the Point, being sepa- 
rated from Vermont by about one eighth of a mile at 
a place called Chimney Point. A strange craft com- 
ing up the lake from Richelieu River would naturally 
continue on up Bulwagga Bay, instead of turning 
to the east and passing the narrows between Chimney 
Point and Pointe de la Chevelure (Crown Point). 

Naturally, too, this would be a place of landing 
of a fleet of canoes paddling leisurely up the lake. 
Hence a probable landing place of Champlain and 
the Montagues, also a point where hostile canoes 
might approach each other suddenly, if going in an 
opposite direction. 

But our principal object was to explore Pointe de la 



Bulwagga Bay 355 

Chevelure and examine the ruins of old Fort St. Fred- 
eric of the French (1731) and the later fortification 
of Fort Amherst, erected by the English in 1759, 
during the French and English wars. 

On a point of this land jutting out from the north- 
east shore stands a lighthouse, with a small dock for 
the benefit of those who have charge of the light. As 
we approached the shore it was evident that the 
steamer was going to make a landing for the accom- 
modation of a small party that was waiting on the 
wharf. Instantly I comprehended that if I could 
get off the boat at this dock, I would have an hour 
more for our examination of the forts than if I landed 
at Port Henry, and came back by the ferry. But 
for some reason, which at the time seemed insane, the 
captain roughly prevented my landing by pulling in 
the gangplank, at the same time pressing me back- 
ward into the arms of a stout gentleman, who proved 
to be a clergyman of my acquaintance living at 
Westport. 

After some conversation with him, I concluded, that 
when our examination was over we would go down 
to Westport for the night, unless I could get accom- 
modations for our party at Hotel St. Frederic at 
Chimney Point, which seemed doubtful, because we 
were told that the proprietor would not take any 
transients. 

We made the attempt, however, and found Mr. 
M. F. Barnes willing to take care of us for the night. 
I shall never forget the short stay at this hotel, nor 
its proprietor, who proved to be interested in the 



356 The Mountain Monarchs 

same kind of research that we were engaged in, and 
who gave us a day of his genial companionship and a 
vast store of information which I could not have ob- 
tained from any other source. It seems as though 
the roughness of the captain was fateful, for if he 
had allowed us to go ashore at the light, we would 
never have met Mr. Barnes and our journey would, 
in a way, have been a failure. 

From Hotel St. Frederic the grandest panorama 
of the whole lake is spread before you. In the fore- 
ground is Port Henry, with a background of hills and 
mountains comprising all of the grandest peaks of 
the Adirondack ranges. To the south the hills fall 
away to the heights of Ticonderoga and its vicinity, 
while to the north, forty miles away, near Au Sable 
River, the high grounds along the lake gradually 
sink away, ending at last in the peak of Trembleau 
Mountain, near Corlear Bay. 

Extending to the west, range after range, peak 
after peak, the monarchs of the north may be seen so 
far away that their dim outlines seem but summer 
clouds on the horizon. Mounts Marcy, Dix, White- 
face, Boreas, Hoffman, and a host of minor peaks 
and ranges, all begin and die away within the line of 
vision from Chimney Point. In the extreme north, 
on the Vermont shore, the outlines of the Green 
Mountains may be plainly traced. With the setting 
sun gilding the peaks of Marcy and Dix, the sombre 
green of the nearer slopes, the shimmer of the water, 
made golden in the dying day, and the misty heights 
of the mountains in the Lake George region, we have 




<3J 

tr. 



O 

h-5 



a 
o 

'o 
pq 



o 



Hotel St. Frederic 357 

a picture which no vocabulary can describe or brush 
portray. 

At our feet and across a narrow strait at Chimney 
Point, and only two hundred yards away, is the flat 
land of Pointe de la Chevelure, broken by embank- 
ments of two old fortresses, from whose ramparts 
and bastions, tall pines and other evergreen trees of 
stunted growth have sprung, while over all, the 
broken clouds of a gorgeous sunset cast moving 
shadows on mountain and plain. 

On the first evening we passed at Hotel St. Fred- 
eric, we were shown a relic of great interest, namely, 
the resurrected one third of General Arnold's flag- 
ship, the Congress, which played such a notable part 
in the naval battle of October 13, 1776. You will 
remember how Arnold with his little fleet crippled, 
fled down the lake from the vicinity of Crown Point, 
about ten miles, to a little baj^ nearly opposite West- 
port, and there burned his vessels. The place is now 
known as Arnold Bay. 

All that is left of the Congress rests on the lawn 
back of Hotel St. Frederic at Chimney Point. The 
building itself is very interesting on account of its 
antiquity, the older part being the old Captain 
Hendee House of the Revolution. ^lany quaint bits 
of furniture are still seen in its rooms. The present 
office was formerly the tap-room of the old hotel, said 
to have been the room where Ethan Allen and Seth 
Warner met some British officers. 

Four trips to the point were made, two of them by 
rowboats, and many photographs secured of the 



358 Fort St. Frederic 

interesting ruins. A photograph was secured of the 
northwest bastion of Fort St. Frederic with the north 
curtain of masonry, and another of a stone bearing 
an almost undecipherable inscription in French. 

The northwest bastion overlooking the lake is very 
interesting, and the ruins of the old citadel which 
was destroyed is seen in the mass of stone of which 
it, and the bomb-proof, was composed. A few feet 
back of this bastion, the remains of the covered way, 
a sally-port to the lake, near the old Amherst dock, 
is easily traced. The entrance from the lake is 
marked by a passageway about ten feet wide and 
ten feet high, plainly discernible its whole length, 
cut out of the solid rock. 

From the Amherst dock, no longer available, may 
be traced one of Amherst's well-built roads inter- 
sected by a second road that leads to the main gate- 
way of Fort Amherst. 

Fort St. Frederic was about three hundred feet 
square with four bastions, three of the usual diamond 
shape, while the fourth or northwest was a quadrangle 
and larger than the others, as it contained the three- 
story stone citadel and probably comprised all of the 
early fortification of 1731, which was enlarged about 
1746 and blown up July 31, 1759, by firing its 
magazine. 

The ramparts seem to be in a fair state of preser- 
vation, but the curtains, which are faoed with stone 
walls about twelve feet high and three feet thick, have 
fallen or have been torn down by natives who desired 
building stone. In fact, a large stone dwelling on the 



Fort Amherst 359 

Vermont shore was pointed out to our party as having 
been built entirely of stone taken from Fort St. 
Frederic. 

Fort Amiierst's ramparts and bastions and moat 
are certainly in an excellent condition, considering 
that the fort has existed a century and a half. In 
fact, it is said that the fort is the best preserved of 
any old fortress in the United States, except, perhaps, 
that of St. Augustine, Florida, which is well pre- 
served on account of constant care, since it was built 
by Menendez in 1565. It was formerly called Fort 
San Marco, but is now known as Fort Marion. 

Although Great Britain expended ten million dol- 
lars on Amherst and Ticonderoga, the engineer cer- 
tainly made a substantial work of Fort Amherst. It 
is true that the four rows of barracks are in a bad 
state, one having entirely disappeared and another 
being marked by a single wall for each building. 
Two, however, could be restored without very great 
expense. The main gateway is in the north curtain 
between the northeast and northwest bastion. Inside 
of the north bastion is a large well ninety feet deep, 
which supplied the fort with water. It is now well 
protected b}^ a fence inside of which dense shrubbery 
hides it from view. 

From this bastion a sally-port or stone-covered 
way led to the lake a quarter of a mile away, and is 
still plainly visible as it crosses the moat; also the 
lines of the former ditch as it crosses the flat, even 
to the edge of the lake. The remains of habitations 
are marked here and there outside of the walls of the 



360 Fort Amherst 

forts, by openings or cellars into which stone walls 
have tumbled. These holes are scattered all along 
the shore of the lake in the vicinity of Fort St. 
Frederic. 

Although the land on which Fort Amherst stands 
belongs to ]Mr. J. E. Nadeau, a private gentleman, 
and a farmer on the Point, he keeps the American 
flag floating from a well-appointed staff day and 
night. 

To the right of Fort Amherst is the Crown Point 
light. Very early in the history of the valley and 
coincident with the French villages on each Point, 
there was a wind-mill for grinding corn, which stood 
where the lighthouse now^ stands. 

On the grounds of Hotel St. Frederic is seen an 
old millstone, denoting the existence of a wind grist- 
mill before the abandonment of the villages at Crown 
Point and Chimney Point by the early French set- 
tlers. The name Chimney Point was suggested by 
the chimneys of the abandoned and decaying houses 
of the early settlements. 

One very interesting part of the ruins of Fort Am- 
herst is the moat that surrounds the ramparts. In 
some places it is about twenty feet wide and deep, 
cut or quarried out of solid limestone. All or 
nearly all of the stone taken out was used in the 
fort. 

It is no wonder that in many places the flat land 
shows a rocky surface, rounded and striated by gla- 
cial action, when we reflect on the fact that the earth 
had been stripped off of this rocky point, to form 




i ^j^, , .ir Mmf«»;T&-ii2r 



" Huddle Bav " at Eventide, Bolton, N. Y. 



The Moat 361 

the immense earthworks of which the two forts are 
composed. 

Fort Amherst is one-half mile in circumference 
with embankment twenty-five feet high and twenty- 
five feet wide at its base. It is covered with grass 
of a dull green, whose roots are woven and interwoven 
in a manner that seems indestructible, and shows no 
signs, except along the crest of the ramparts, of the 
footsteps of the myriad of visitors who thronged its 
walls during the Tercentenary. 

The firm of Wetherbe, Sherman & Company, of Port Henry, 
New York, in a communication to the Governor, Charles E. 
Hughes, dated March 25, 1910, has made a gift to the State of 
New York of twenty-five acres of land, situated on the Peninsula 
of Crown Point, or Pointe de la Chevelure as it was named by the 
French, for the purpose of a State Park. 

This gift is made for the purpose of preserving and protecting 
the ruins of Fort St. Frederic and Fort Amherst, the most in- 
teresting and historic of any of the very few relics of the early 
Colonial wars between England and France, and the war of 
Revolution. 

It is truly said that the ruins of Fort Amherst are the best 
preserved of any old fortress in the United States. Fort St. 
Frederic and its history are also intensely interesting, with the 
debris of its ruined citadel and the quaint and undecipherable 
inscription on its crumbling walls bearing the date of 1731. 

It is expected that the State will accept the gift and provide 
a fund for the proper care of the forts. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

THE LAST NIGHT AT THE ST. FREDERIC 

T^HE day had been one of pleasure, beginning with 
* a trip across the lake in a rowboat in the early 
morning hours, the party consisting of our host Mr. 
Barnes, my daughter (the Christine of my rambles). 
Professor Maney, and myself. Our rambles were 
fruitful of much information and many views. After 
our return and after dinner, I retired to my room 
for a siesta. The windows overlooked the lake, 
glassy in the mid-day sun. A breeze had spi*ung up, 
and short, chopping waves raced each other across the 
bay. The seething lap, lap, lap of the surf, at first 
preventing sleep, at last lulled me to rest. 

Twilight came and our party, reinforced by two 
ladies, guests at the St. Frederic, gathered on the 
south w^ng of the veranda, overlooking the bay and 
the Pointe de la Chevelure. To the right was Bul- 
wagga Bay and the old Amherst dock. Dimly seen, 
because we knew where to look, were the ruined forts, 
embowered in the foliage of stunted trees and tower- 
ing pines and elms; Lighthouse Bay, the scene of the 
wonderful pageant of the Crown Point Tercentenary 
display, and then the lighthouse on the Point. As 

the shadows deepened, a gibbous moon shone in its 

362 




t?ilver Birches, Lake George. 



Golden Wavelets 363 

pale twilight lustre, and as it brightened as night 
stole on apace, we amused ourselves looking for the 
goddess in the moon, who of late has crowded the 
Old Man out. 

To-night the lady was pre-eminent. On the golden 
background and through the glass, the face was in- 
deed classic. The hair thrown back from a high 
forehead, straight Grecian nose and full lips, well- 
rounded chin, uptilted, showing the pure curves of 
throat and shoulders, eyebrows and eyes w^ell defined. 
One called it Tetrazzini, another a Grecian goddess, 
another named it Nordica. If you have never seen 
this face in the moon, search for it until you find it. 
It is looking to the north and fills two thirds of a 
full moon. 

The beacon in the tower of the lighthouse flashed 
out suddenly, illumining a narrow golden path across 
the bay, while the moonbeams, now bright, touched 
the crests of weaves and ripples with golden sheen. 
At times there was therefore a blaze of light, to be 
succeeded by innumerable tiny scintillations, as though 
a million fire-flies were in a mad race along " the path 
paved with moonbeams." 

We lingered late, and the stillness of the air and 
the direction of the wind, brought to us over the 
waters the voices of merry-making on the opposite 
shore. A female voice was heard calling : " Hey 
Bill, bring your watermelon down here on the rock." 
Probably Bill cut his watermelon on the rock. 

Something was said about moonlight scenes by 
photograph, and we were told that many of them 



j64 A lOw oil Lakt: ( "li;imj)l.iiii 

were nclu.'illy siinli^lil picliircs. Tlic rrolcssor, liow- 
v.yrv, hroii/j^hl ("oiujird his cjimcni and iiricr forly- 
li\(' iiiiiiiilcs' cxposiin', and willi no li/^lil hnl tlic 
moon, lie produced a /^cniiinr nioordi/^lil view, (piilc 
arlislic. 

\V(; were lo bid laicwcll lo Lake Clianiplain in llic 
liiorriin^. II liad developed an iinexpeeled eliarin to 
me, I'oi' allli()ii|^'li I liad l>een n|) and down llie lake 
matiy limes, il liad always been seen Irom I Ik- deck 
of a sleamer. 'I'he hroad lake and Hie shores lo llur 
casl, slreleliin^" away lo llie roolliills oC llie mounlains 
of Vcnnonl, <^i\(' on*- an idea of a /^real e\|)anse of 
Inrtd, of enilivaled lieids. 

I was surprised lo learn llial al limes llie lake was 
laslied lo fury 'J'ld llial, at llie llood-lime of (lie year, 
llie waler was raised lo an unwonled Jiei/^Iil, llic waves 
makin<^' il daii'^croiis Cor small eral'l. 

As we sat at breakCasI, one mornin/^', lookin^if out 
Ilirou/^Ii tlic I'ranic of Hie door, llie sound of cliu^', 
cliu^' canie llirou/^li llic morning' air, and into Hie 
])i('turc caiiK' a lu^' willi a, Ion/4' line taut. A barge 
|)assed by, I lien two, four, six, followed unexpectedly 
by two scpiarc-ri/^'gcd scliooners willi sails furled, all 
in Hie tow. Some of Hie boats were loaded willi 
incrcliandise, olliers willi ^rain, but |)rinci|)ally willi 
iron ore, en loule to IIm' smellin/^' furnaces of 1*011 
Henry. Wu were told llial in former years. Ibis 
business Avas tbriviii;^", but llic cost of minin;^' and 
I rans|)orlalion of supplies was so cx|)cnsive llial laler 
on Hie industry lan/;uislied and died. Of laic years, 
bowcver, new melbods of smcllin/^" have rendered in- 




c 



"a 



a 

•a 

a 
p 



p 



Steamer "Vermont" 365 

ferior ore highly productive, and now the business is 
so profitable that it produces millions. 

The day we returned up the lake the wind was 
blowing hard, and although the morning was bright, 
the lake was quite rough. Crossing the lake near 
Crown Point village was a primitive ferryboat. Its 
construction was somewhat like an old-style bateau, 
with a mast and sail, sloop-rigged, while at each end 
was a movable platform to make easy the landing of 
wagons. A boy was at the rudder, while a bare- 
headed man in shirt sleeves and one suspender and 
bare feet, was on the running-board manipulating the 
sail. 

The steamer Vermont is really a commodious up- 
to-date steamer, with fittings and service that are all 
that could be desired. 

Thirty-five years ago another steamer Vermont 
carried passengers from Whitehall to Rouse Point 
in about twelve hours. As I remember it, it was not 
a palatial boat but was broad and tub-like in appear- 
ance. On the main deck forward were stout casks 
filled with sand, usually placed in the centre of the 
deck, and used in assisting the man in the wheelhouse 
in making sharp turns, by shifting the barrels, and 
thus throwing weight on the side of the boat, making 
the boat careen in going around a point. Par- 
ticularly was this noticeable in rounding Cumberland 
Head or an island. 

The captain, whose name was long familiar on 
Lake Champlain, was a veritable old sea-dog in man- 
ner and appearance, although I doubt if he had ever 



o 



66 Old-Time Steamboat Captain 



sniffed salt water. I recollect that we had a letter 
of introduction to him from a very firm friend of his. 
He read the letter and turned away without remark. 

The dining-table filled the length of the room, and 
at the head sat the captain, before whom was placed 
the principal dish of meat. Coming to dinner a little 
late we found that seats had been reserved for us 
at the captain's right hand. The waiters were young- 
students from a near-by college, and the table service 
was very unsatisfactory. But it got worse as the 
meal progressed, and many bottles of champagne 
were removed from the table, half filled, before the 
guests w^ere through with them, the students appro- 
priating them. 

At a later stage of the meal a diffident young man 
near me managed to spill his cup of coffee on the 
table cloth. This act alone was enough to make the 
young fellow wish that the bottom of the boat would 
open and let him out. A waiter stepped forward to 
repair the damage, when the captain completed his 
discomforture by stopping the waiter with the re- 
mark, " Don't touch the cloth, if he is d fool 

enough to spill his coffee, let him set in it." 

The young man rose from the table and fairly 
staggered up the stairs, and effaced himself com- 
pletely during the rest of the voyage. 

But the old regime has passed away and the well- 
lighted dining-hall in the rear of the main cabin, with 
its table d'hote service, is a pleasant place for a hungry 
tourist. 




A 



Acknowledgment for valuable information absorbed from 
various sources in the preparation of this book. 

History of Queenshury. — Dr. A. W. Holden. 

Monograph. — J. H. Holden. 

History of the Five JS/atlons. — Cadwalader Golden. 

Gazetteer, 1813.— Horatio Gates Spofford. 

Gazetteer, 1821. — Horatio Gates Spofford. 

Gazetteer, 1860. — J. H. French. 

Historical Collections. — Barber and Howe. 

Jesuit Relations. — Burrows Bros. & Co. 

Geological Survey. — Warren Upham. 

Doc. Hist, of State of New York. — E. B. O'Callaghan, 

M.D., LL.D. 
Col. Doc. of State of New YorA;.— E. B. O'Callaghan, M.D., 

LL.D. 
Macaiiley's Hist, of State of New York. — James Macauley. 
Parkman's Works. — Francis Park man. 
Battles of the United States. — Henry B. Dawson. 
Life of Israel Putnam. — Col. David Humphrey. 
Life of Israel Putnam. — Wm. Farrand Livingston. 
Harpci-'s Encyclopedia. — N. Y. Tribune. 
Voyages of Samuel de Champlain. — Anne Nettleton 

Bourne. 
Samuel de Champlain. — Edwin Asa Dix. 
Sir William Johnson's Manuscripts. 

Thatcher's Diary of the Am. Revolution. — James Thatcher. 
Monograph — First Battle of Lake Champlain. — Geo. F. 

BixBY, Miss H. S. Bixby. 
Lotus Eating. — George William Curtis. 

367 



368 Acknowledgment 

Valuahle Information. — M. F. Barnes. 
Lake George. — Seneca Ray Stoddard. 
Photographs. — Mrs. E. E. Baker. 
Ldthographs. — Col. J. L. Cunningham, 

Glens Falls Ins. Co. 
Valuable Assistance. — State Historian Victor H. Paltsits. 



INDEX 



Abenakis, 13, 88; Praying In- 
dians, 93; village in Maine, 
169-170; church destroyed, 170 

Abercrombie, James, Major- 
General, in command of Brit- 
ish army, 139; advance on 
Ticonderoga, 142-145; defeat, 
146; retreat, 147; superseded 
by Amherst, 148, 164, 165; 
fear of Montcalm, 185; per- 
sonal appearance, 253; Sab- 
bath-day Point, 336 

Acadia, 10 

Adirondack Mountains, 282, 
284, 320, 356 

Adirondacks, Indians, 38; with 
Champlain, 39-41 

Albany, 47; wounded French 
soldiers sent to, 47 

Algonquins, 13; allies of Cham- 
plain, 17; first to attack Mo- 
hawks in Champlain's second 
battle, 1610, 18; Adirondacks 
were Algonquins, 38; Confed- 
eracy, 86; Dialects, 89; Pray- 
ing Indians, 93; Piscaret's 
band, 98-100, 125, 256; lan- 
guage, 349 

Algonquin Hotel at Bolton, 337, 
338 

Allen, Ethan, story of capture 
of Fort Ticonderoga, 194-223, 
228; leader of Green Moun- 
tain Boys, 229; with Arnold, 
233; sent to Canada and cap- 
tured, 237; iconoclast at work, 
254; at Hendee House, 357 

Allen F. W., treasurer of St. 
Sacrement, 341 

Amherst dock at Pointe de la 
Chevelure, 362 



Amherst, General Sir Jeffreys, 
142; campaign of 1759, 147- 
149, 160; order to Major 
Rogers, 175; Rogers with, 177; 
strengthens Foi't Ticonderoga, 
250; John Skene with, 288, 
294 
Andastes Indians, 88; at La 

Prairie, 93 
Anthony's Nose, 344-346 
Arnold, General Benedict, 229; 
Arnold in the Champlain 
Valley, sketch, 233-238; his 
war-vessel. Revenge, 255, 270; 
flag-ship Congress at Chim- 
ney Point, 357 
Arnold and Allen, 197-205 
Artillery Cove, Lake George, 269 
Assembly Point, 259, 267, 268 
Aubrey, Captain, at Diamond 

Island, 331 
Au Sable, 304 

Au Sable River, tributary of 
Lake Champlain, 24, 36, 37, 
356 



B 



Baccalaos, 1 

Baker, Remember, 229 

Baldwin, 346 

Ballston Lake, 52 

Barber and Howe, 297 

Barnes, Hon. M. F., 355, 356, 

362 
Basque fishermen, 1, 5 
Bastienne, 4, 6 
Bates, Geo. W., 341 
Baum, Colonel F., 272 
Bennington, 245, 272, 278 
Biard, Pierre, 170 
Bimina, 2 
Bingley, Lord, 273 



369 



370 



Index 



Bixby, Dr. Geo. F., monograph 
on Champlain's first battle, 
20-29 

Bixby, W. K., Bolton, N. Y., 
342 

Black Watch, at Fort Ticon- 
deroga, 147, 155 ; inscription 
of, 165; history of, 166, 250 

Blair's Bay, 345 

Blind Rock, glacial, 279, 280; 
torture, 281, 282 

Bloody morning scout ambus- 
cade, 121 

Bloody Pond, skirmish, 123; 
"call of the wild," 316; visit 
to, 317-319 

Bloody trail, 276-279; story 
of Mr. Schoonhoven, 286- 
287 

Bolton, 267; organized in 1799, 
Huddle Bay and islands, 366- 
339; visit to, 340 

Bolton Landing, Church of St. 
Sacrement, 337, 341 

Boniface, Francisco, 92 

Boquet River, 24, 26; descrip- 
tion of, 36; Burgoyne meets 
Indians, 271 ; home of Wm. 
Gilliland, 296 

Boulle, Helene. bride of Cham- 
plain, 30-31 

Boulle, Nicolas, father of Helene, 
30 

Bourlemarque, Colonel M. de, at 
Crown Point, 250 

Braddock, Major-General Ed- 
ward, reappoints Wm. John- 
son Superintendent of Six 
Nations, 103; conference at 
Alexandria, Va., 104; war- 
dance at Fort Johnson in his 
honor, 108; sent to Fort Du- 
quesne, 115; news of his de- 
feat, 116, 141, 145 

Bradley, Thaddeus, 307 

Bradstreet, Lieutenant-Colonel 
John, at Ticonderoga, 143; in 
the forest, 154, 160 

Brant, Molly, at Fort Johnson, 
1755, 106; with Col. St. Leger, 
272 

Brant, Molly, at Fort Johnson, 
105 



Brebeuf, Jean, among the 
Hurons, 41, 90 

Bressani, Francisco Giuseppe, 
88 ; in Mohawk Valley, 91 

Brice, James, English ambas- 
sador, 227 

Brown, Colonel, at Diamond 
Island, 331 

Bruyas, Jacques, Jesuit priest, 
92 

Buell, Augustus C, 141 

Bulwagga Bay, at Crown Point, 
25, 26, 224; meaning of name, 
354; in the moonlight, 362 

Burdick, Nathan, pioneer, 307 

Burgoyne, Genei'al Sir John, 
meets Indian allies, 37, 147, 
236; at Crown Point, 239, 244, 
246; at Mount Hope, 256; 
sketch, 270-273; at Sandy 
Hill, 286; killing of Jane 
McCrea, 290-293; Champlain 
Valley, 296 

Burlington, Vt., Tercentenary, 
228; lumber district, 352 

Burtch, Benoni, first settler, 307 

Bush, Mistress, 192 

Butler, Captain John, 105 

Butler, , first settler, 307 



Cabot, Sebastian, 1 

Caldwell, James, first proprietor 

erected grist mill, 307; erected 

hotel, 312 
Caldwell village, 281, 305, 307 
Campbell, Major Duncan, In- 

verawe, wounded, 156; story 

of, 161-165 
Carhiel, Etienne de, with the 

Senecas, 92 
Carignan-Salieres, French 

veterans, 45, 49, 50, 52, 56 
Carillon, name of fort, 118, 255 
Carleton, Major Christopher, 

destroyed Fort Ann and Fort 

George, 260 
Carleton, General Sir Guy, ex- 
pedition to Lake Champlain, 

270; enemy of Burgoyne, 272 
Cartier, Jacques, 28, 36 
Carver, Jonathan, 138 



Index 



371 



Castleton, retreat of Americans 
to, 241, 242 

Caughnawaga, mission on the 
St. Lawrence, 84; origin, 86, 
88; Praying Indians, 94, 95; 
Roman Catholics, 111 ; at bat- 
tle of Lake George, 122, 189 

Cayadutta, a prehistoric site, 12, 
40 

Cayuga County, 282 

Cayugas, fighting strength of, 
three hundred warriors, 19, 
88, 104, 283 

Chabanel, 90 

Chambly, 15, 225 

Champlain Canal, 249, 251, 252 

Champlain, Madame Helene, 32 

Champlain, Samuel de, voyages 
and sketch, 9-24; first battle 
with the Mohawks, 26-32, 35, 
36, 40, 69, 125; Tercentenary, 
227, 350, 354 

Champlain Valley, hunting 
grounds of the Mohawks, 12; 
highway to New France, 13 ; 
battle-ground of the giants of 
Europe, 112; Tercentenary, 
228; development, 351 

Chastes, Aymar de, 9 

Chaumonot, 91 

Chazy, M. de, 49; killed by Mo- 
hawks, 49-51, 56, 58, 64, 73, 
85 

Chazy River, 23, 24; tributary 
to Lake Champlain, 36; named 
for M. de Chazy, 49 

Cherokees, 88, 140 

Chimney Point, 355, 357, 360 

Christine, 362 

Chubb's dock, 342 

Church of St. James, 340, 341 

Church of St. Sacrement, 337, 
340 

Claus, Daniel, 105, 106 

Clement, Jacobus, 105 

Cleverdale, 267 

Clinton, Governor George, 103 

Colden, Cadwallader, 38 

Cooper's Cave, 316 

Courcelle, M. de. Governor of 
New France, abortive expedi- 
tion against the Mohawks, 45- 
53 



Couture, Guillame, 42 

Crary, Rev. R. F., 34 

Crosbyside, 306 

Crown Point, latitude, 17; Bix- 
by's argument, 20, 21, 24-28; 
French expedition for, 103; 
reduction of, 104; Major-Gen- 
eral Johnson to march on, 114, 
115, 117; coveted by English 
and French, 127; Montcalm 
at, 128; cannibalistic feast at, 
131; English expedition of 
1758, 142; Amherst expedi- 
tion, 1759, 148, 149; Rogers's 
rangers, 172; Amherst's let- 
ter, 175; location of, 224; 
Tercentenary, 228; Arnold at, 
236; Burgoyne at, 239; Fort 
St. Frederic at, 248; Am- 
herst erects fort, 251 ; Bur- 
goyne captures, 270; Major 
Skene in charge of, 288; visit 
to, 353-361 

Cumberland Head, 23, 98, 365 

Curtis, George William, 305, 
306, 310 



Dablon, 91 

Dalzell, Captain James, with 
Putnam, 188, 190 

Daniel, Antoine, 90 

Delancey, Gov. James, 104 

Delawares, Leni Lenape, 105, 
110 

Dellius, Godfridens, 276 

D'Estrees, Gabrielle, mistress of 
Henry IV., 31 

De Mantet, Dailleboust, at 
Schenectady, 277 

Derby, Earl of, 273 

Diamond Island, 259, 268, 313; 
rattlesnakes, 327 

Dieskau, Baron de, 11; moves 
forces to Carillon, 118; ad- 
vances up Wood Creek and 
prepares ambuscade, 119 ; 
battle of Lake Geoi'ge, 121 ; 
wounded, 122; defeated and 
a prisoner, 123, 127; Praying 
Indians with, 171, 231, 318 



3/2 



Index 



Dinwiddie, Governor Robert, at 

Alexandria, Va., 104 
Downie, Commodore George, 

battle of Plattsburg, 299 
Dresden, 342 
Dunham Bay, 267, 268 
Durantaye, Captain Oliver 

Morel de la, defeats Rogers's 

rangers, 178 
Dutch East India Company, 34 



E 



Eckles, Lady Betsey, 295 
Edmonds, Andrew, first settler, 

307 
Eggleston, Edward, a u t h d r, 

home of, 267 
Erie Canal, building of, 351 
Eries, Indians, 88; exterminated 

by Iroquois, 90 



Fayaway, Melville's " Typee," 

311 
Fermoy, General de, 242 
Floating bridge, 285 
Folsom, Captain, attack at 

Bloody Pond, 123, 318 
Forts: 

Amherst, ruins of (1759), 
358; gateway, 359; moat, 
360; ramparts, 361 

Ann, 188; attacked by Bur- 
goyne, 244; burned by re- 
treating Americans, 245 ; 
destroyed by Major Chris- 
topher Carleton, 260 

Chambly, on the Richelieu, 
302 

Duquesne, now Pittsburg, Pa., 
104, 113, 115; horror at 
massacre, 145 

Edward, Johnson arrived at, 
August 14, 1755, 116; road 
to, 117; Colonel Lyman at, 
118; Dieskau's Indians re- 
fuse to attack fort, 119; 
General Webb at, 133; dis- 
order and massacre on road 



to, 135-141; Duncan Camp- 
bell buried at, 165; Rogers 
at, 172, 177; St. Clair's 
fugitives at, 271; fort de- 
scribed, 277; a bloody trail, 
278; McCrea family near, 
291, 304 

George, on old road to Fort 
Edward, 135, 314; sheltered 
fugitives from Fort William 
Henry, 139; Amherst makes 
plans for fort, 148; " Mys- 
terious Fort George," 230; 
a small-pox hospital, 232; 
destroyed, 260; ruin, 314 

Hunter, 55, 60, 102 

Johnson, great Indian coun- 
cil at, 102; whiskey at, 109; 
Sir Wm. Johnson's office, 
112; conference with Chero- 
kees at, 140 

Lyman, named by Sir Wm. 
Johnson in 1755, 118; Dies- 
kau's forces on road to, 
119; scouting party from, 
attacks party of enemies at 
Bloody Pond, 123; descrip- 
tion of, 277; name changed 
to Fort Edward, 277; Cap- 
tain Folsom and McGinnis 
from, 318 

Miller, referred to, 173; 
block-house at Half-way 
Brook, 278 

Montgomery, 331-335 

Orange, Albany, N. Y., re- 
ferred to, 80, 84; Bressani 
sold at, 91 

Richelieu, on the Richelieu 
River, 302 

St. Anne, on Isle La Motte, 
50, 51; Captain Chazy at, 
56 

St. Frederic, 21; on Crown 
Point Peninsula, extreme 
French outpost in 1731, 25; 
ruins, 224, 225; garrison of, 
225; named for Frederic 
Maurepas, 226, 355; de- 
scribed, 358-360 

St. Louis, on Richelieu River, 
45, 46 

San Marco, 359 



Index 



373 



Forts — Continued. 

St. Theresa, ten miles above 

Richelieu Falls, 45, 46 
Stanwix, at Rome, N. Y., 147; 
Arnold marches to the re- 
lief of, 236; locks at, 350 
Ticonderoga, called Carrillon 
by the French, 118; Mont- 
calm leaves soldiers at, 128; 
Abercrombie's attack, 142- 
145 ; Amherst's advance, 
148; partly reconstructed, 
148; Lord Howe at, 154; 
Major Putnam at, 188; 
Allen and Arnold, 194- 
208; capture of fortress, 
194-223; Arnold's conduct 
at, 233; Arnold in com- 
mand, 236; Schuyler in 
command, July, 1775, 238; 
Burgoyne invests, 239; oc- 
cupied by General Haldi- 
man in 1780, 246; described, 
249, 250; distance from 
Lake George, 252; location 
of fort, 253, 254; restora- 
tion, 256; floating bridge 
at, 286; St. Clair retreats, 
289; Colonel Brown cap- 
tures outworks, 231 
Vaudreuil, 253 

William Henry, Sir William 
Johnson builds, 127; Colonel 
Monro commands, 127; in- 
vestment and surrender, 
128-136; massacre, 137, 
138, 139; Johnson, rage at 
Webb, 140, 141; Praying 
Indians with Montcalm, 
171, 259; remains of the 
ruins, 312 

Fort William Henry Hotel, 259, 
oio 338 

Forty-fifth parallel, 331-335 

Francis, Colonel, 242, 243 

Francois, Marguerite's lover, 4, 
6 ' 

Fraser, General Simon, at Hub- 
bardton, 242, 243, 244, 271 

Fremin, Jacques, 91, 92 

Frey, S. L., 55 

Friendly Point, Lake George, 
344 



Frye, Colonel, 136, 137 
G 

Galway, 52 

Gandawague, 93 

Garakontie, 44, 92 

Garnier, Julien, 90, 92 

Garoga, site of prehistoric Mo- 
hawk village, 12, 40 

Gast, Pierre de, 10 

Gates, General Horatio, Ar- 
nold's bravery, 236; army of, 
290; letter from Burgoyne, 
292 

George, Lake, village, 267; 
formerly Caldwell, 281; 
sketch, 304-315 

Gilliland, William, misfortunes 
of, 293-296 

Glacial, 279 

Glens Falls, 46, 52; Johnson, 
General, builds road from 
Lake George to, 117; bloody 
trail, 278; visit of George 
William Curtis, 305 

Goddess of the Moon, 363 

Goupil, Rene, with the Mo- 
hawks in 1642, 42; mas- 
sacred, 90 

Grand Island, story of Piscaret, 
98 

Grand Pre, 169 

Grant, Mrs., of Laggan's Mem- 
oirs of an American Lady, 150 

Great Meadows, George Wash- 
ington at, 113 

Green Mountain Boys, with 
Ethan Allen, 194-206; New 
Hampshire grants, 229; shake 
in their graves, 254 

Greenfield, route of Tracy's 
French troops, 52 

Grenadier battery, visit to, 254; 
built to correct an error, 255 

Grove Hotel, 267 



H 



Hague, 335, 343 
Hale, Horatio, Indian name, 
247 



374 



Index 



Half Moon, Hudson's ship, 34 
Half-way Brook runs through 
the village of Glens Falls, 
278, 330 
Hampshire Grants, 229 
Happy Family Island, Lake 

George, 259 
Harris Bay, 259, 265 
Harris, Moses, 259, 260 
Harris, William, 259-266 
Haviland, Colonel William, in 
command at Fort Edward, 
177 
Hendee House at Chimney 

Point, Vt., 357 
Hendrick, Caroline, 106 
Hendrick, Charlotte, 106 
Hendrick, Chief, discontent of, 
102; at Fort Johnson, 107; 
speaks at Lake George, 114; 
with General William John- 
son, 116; advice to General 
Johnson, 119; killed in morn- 
ing scout at Lake George, 
120; statue, 314; site of the 
morning scout, 318 
Hendrick, William, of Cana- 

joharie, 106 
Henry of Navarre, 30 
Hill, Hon. Henry W., 227 
Hircois Lake, corruption of Iro- 
quois, 43; Indian name for 
Lake Champlain, 349 
History of Queensbury, 231 
Hochelaga, Montreal, 2, 9 
Hoffman, N. Y., 94 
Holden, Dr. A. W., story of 
Van Wormer, 173; story of 
Rogers's escape, 177; Fort 
George, story of old Bill 
Harris, 259 
Holden, J. A., bloody trail, 278 
Horicon, Lake, Cooper's name 

for Lake George, 43 
Hotel St. Frederic, Hon. M. F. 
Barnes at, 355; grand pano- 
rama from, 356, 357; keel of 
the Congress at, 357; twi- 
light at, 362 
Howe, Lord George Augustus, 
encounters French detachment, 
143; burial of, 150; sketch, 
151; with Stark and Putnam, 



154; buried in St. Peter's, 

156; record of burial, 157; a 

claim that the bones of Lord 

Howe have been found at 

Ticonderoga, 158, 159 
Howe's Landing, 252 
Hubbardton, 242, 271, 278 
Huddle Bay, 267, 337, 338 
Hudson, Henry, voyages, 33-36, 

350 
Hudson's River, names, 34, 35; 

twin to Au Sable, 37 
Hughes, Governor, 228 
Huletts Landing, 342-343 
Humphreys, Colonel David, 

History of General Israel 

Putnam, 182, 187 
Hunt, Obadiah, 307 
Hurons, with Champlain, 19; 

exterminated, 90; enemies of 

the Mohawks, 125 



Illinois, Algonquin, 88 

Indian Kettles on Blair's Bay, 
345 

Inland Lock and Navigation 
Company on Mohawk River, 
350 

Iroquois, terrible, 11 ; the 
Mohaws, 17; strength of, 
19; Bixby's story, 21-24; 
Champlain's battle, 27, 28, 
29; early history of the Mo- 
hawks, 39; treaty between 
New France and the, 44. 50; 
Confederacy of, 86, 87; war 
with Hurons, 90; converts 
from, 95; great activity, 101; 
council at Fort Johnson, 103- 
112; speech of Hendrick, 114; 
battle of Lake George, 116- 
124; joins Webb under John- 
son, 141; legend of mosquito, 
282; names, 349 

Iroquois River, Richelieu, 15; 
Champlain on, in 1609, 20; 
had three names in 1664. 302; 
communication from Hudson 
to the St. Lawrence via, 350 

Ix-oquois, the great council, 102 



Index 



375 



Islands. Demons, 3, 7; La Motte, 
49, 50, 51, 228, 234; Aux Noir, 
251; Prisoners', 252; Clay, 
338; Dome, 338; Hiawatha, 
338; Leontine, 338; Recluse, 
338; Sweetbriar, 338 



Jacques, Lieutenant Benjamin, 
170 

Jesuit Relation, 91, 301 

Jesuits, 41, 43 

Jogues, Isaac, martyr and saint, 
41; capture of 1642, 42; 
killed, 43, 88, 90; monument 
to, 337 

Johnson, Sir John, 272 

Johnson, Mary, 105 

Johnson, Nancy (Anna), 105 

Johnson, Sir William, changed 
name, Lac du St. Sacrement 
to Lake George, 43; council 
at Fort Johnson, 102-112; 
Hendrick's speech, 114, 115; 
expedition to Crown Point 
and battle of Lake George, 
116-123; made baronet, 124; 
built Fort William Henry, 
127; joined Webb with six 
hundred Iroquois, 141 ; opin- 
ion of Major Robert Rogers, 
174, 180, 181; rangers with 
Johnson, 1755, 188, 231; re- 
names Fort Lyman, 277; con- 
structed Corduroy road, 278; 
statue, 314 

Jones, Lieutenant David, Jane 
McCrea's lover, 291, 293 

Joshua Rock, home of Edward 
Eggleston, 267, 268 

Jovency, Joseph, 301 

Jusserand, J. J., French am- 
bassador, 228 



Kalm, Peter, 226 
Kattskill Bay, 268 
Kattskill Hotel, 268 
Kay-a-de-ros-se-ros, hunting- 
ground of Mohawks, 52 



Kennebec, 169, 170 

Kicapoo, 88 

Kinaquarione, at Hoffman, 
N. Y., 94 

Kryn, the great Mohawk, 86; 
convert of the Catholic faith, 
93; settled at La Prairie on 
the St. Lawrence, 94; at the 
massacre of Schenectady, 95 ; 
killed at Salmon River, 95 



Lac du St. Sacrement, name 
given by Isaac Jogues, 42, 43; 
to perpetuate name, 44; John- 
son changes name, 117; Peter 
Schuyler misspells name, 248, 
256 

La Chine, 12 

Lake Como, 310, 311 

Lake House, on Lake George, 
306 

Lake Iroquois, post-glacial, 280; 
causar in, 301, 349 

Lake Memphremagog, 177 

Lake St. Lawrence, post-gla- 
cial, 280 

Lake Simcoe, abode of the Hu- 
rons, 66 

Lalamant, Gabriel, 90 

Lalande, 91 

Lamoille River, 37 

La Moyne, Father Simon, 77; at 
Oneida, 80; to the Mohawks, 
91 

La Prairie de la Magdelene, 
Mission of Praying Indians, 
93, 94 

Larrabee's Point on Lake 
Champlain, 353 

La Tour, 65, 66 

Lemoyne, Sieur Charles de, at 
Schenectady, 277 

Lescarbot, Marc, 15 

Les Mille Isles, 14 

Levi, M. de, 144 

Levis, Chevalier de, 132 

Lewis, Rev. M. F., 341 

Lighthouse Bay, 362 

Lincoln, General, 331 

Little Falls, 350 

Livingston, Wm. Farrand, 182 



76 



Index 



Long Island, 259, 267 

Loreles, Armand de, 56-85 

Loreles, Jean, 65-72 

Lost on the trail, 320-326 

Lotbiniere, 248 

Lotus Eating, 305 

Loudoun, Earl of, 139 

Loyola, Ignace, 41 

Lyman, Colonel Phineas, at 
Lake George, 116-118; in 
command, 122; erected Fort 
Lyman, 277 



M 



McCauley, James, 142, 239 

McCrea, James, 292 

McCrea, Jane, 165; murdered, 

278, 288; story of, 291, 293; 

burial places, 293 
McCrea, Colonel John, 292 
McGinnis, Captain, 123, 318 
McNeil, Mrs., 291, 292 
Macaulay, Thos. Babington, 

historian, 162 
Macomb, General Alexander, 

299 
Macdonough, Captain Thomas, 

299 
Mahicans, 13, 94, 125 
Maney, John Arthur, 316, 317, 

362, 364 
Marguerite, niece of Sieur de 

Roberval, 3, 4, 6, 7 
Marie of the legend, 63-85 
Marie of the Incarnation, 64 
Marin, M. Cadet, 188, 277 
Marion House, 268 
Mascoutins, Indians, 88 
Masse, Ennemond, 170 
Maurepas, Frederic, Fort St. 

Frederic named for him, 22G 
Meade, Mrs. Charles M., 341 
Medici, Marie de, 31 
Melville, Herman, author of 

" Typee," 311 
Memphremagog, 177 
Menard, 91 
Mercier, Le, 91 
Michilimacknac, 181 
Micmac, 88 
Micmac, Pierre, 92 
Milton, N. Y., 52 



Missesquoiat, 37 

Mission of the Martyrs, 44 

Mogg Megone, 170 

Mohawks, at Hochelaga, Mont- 
real, 9; prehistoric sites of, 
12; Champlain's first battle 
with, 15-17; Champlain's 
second battle with, 18-21 ; 
early history of 38, 39; Tracy 
marches against, 43-50; 
Tracy's second expedition, 52- 
54; Tracy destroys Mohawk 
castles, 54-55; war with 
Huron-Iroquois, 90 ; battle 
with Piscaret's band, 96-99; 
council at Fort Johnson, 105- 
106; with Johnson at Lake 
George, 117-124; with John- 
son at Fort Edward, 141; 
claimed peninsula of Crown 
Point, 225 

Mohawk Valley, evidences of 
prehistoric sites along, 12; 
early Jesuit priests killed in 
the, 41 ; Mohawks protected 
the settlers of the valley, 125; 
Abercrombie's army d i s- 
tributed along the valley after 
retreat from Ticonderoga, 
147; Mohawk Valley Dutch- 
men with " Bill " Harris, 
262; bloody trail led to, 
277; post-glacial Iroquois 
flowed to the sea through the, 
280; Inland Lock and Navi- 
gation Company, 350 

Mohican House, 341, 342 

Mohicans, Last of, 314 

Molang, Putnam captured by, 
188; treats Putnam kindly, 
191 

Monro, Colonel George, in com- 
mand of Fort William Henry, 
127; defeats Montcalm's at- 
tempt at surprise, 128; finds 
situation critical, 133-134; 
Webb refuses reinforcements, 
141; overwhelmed, 312, 314 

Montezuma Marshes, 283 

Montagnes, with Champlain, 14, 
15, 16; in battle of 1610, 18, 
27, 29, 62; Algonquin Nation, 
88, 125, 354 



Index 



377 



Montcalm, General Louis de, on 
Lake Champlain in 1757, 128; 
advances to attack Fort Wil- 
liam Henry, 131-136, 141; in 
command at Fort Ticonde- 
roga, 1758, 171; Abercrom- 
bie's fear of, 188 

Montcalm Bay, 269 

Montmagny, Charles Huault de, 
Governor of New France, suc- 
ceeds Champlain, 99 

Montour, Captain Andrew, 116 

Montreal, Hochelaga, 9; In- 
dians return with plunder to 
139; Amherst captures, 149 
Putnam prisoner at, 191 
Allen defeated and captured 
at, 237; St. Leger troops at, 
272 ; expedition to Lake 
Champlain from, 299 

Monts, Sieur de, 10 

Mosquito, legend of, 283 

Mount Defiance, Americans do 
not fortify, 239; British erect 
battery, 240; British capture 
Fort Ticonderoga, 246, 255; 
sketch, 257; St. Clair evacu- 
ates, 286; view of, 345, 346 

Mount Desert, colony at, 170 

Mount Independence, Defiance 
commands, 239; troops at, 
put in motion, 242; supplies 
lost at, 245; heights on Lake 
Champlain, 257; bridge of 
boats at, 285; view from 
steamer, 354 

Mount Johnson, on Mohawk 
River, council at, 102 

Mountains : 

Anthony's Nose, 344; beauty 

of, 346 
Beach, 344 
Black, height, 279, 337; Gorge 

at Huletts, 342, 343 
Boreas, high peak, 356 
Buck, towering peak, 267, 268; 
view from Bolton Bay, 337, 
338; view in haze, 343 
Cooks, west of outlet of Lake 

George, 346 
Dix, sunset vista, 356 
Dresden, heights on Lake 
Champlain, 331 



Elephant, view of, 337, 343 
French, 267; view from 

Bloody Pond, 318, 319 
Green Mountains, view of, 

356 
Hoffman, 356 

Hope, General Phillips occu- 
pies, 240; in the gloaming, 

256, 257 
Marcy, in the sunset, 356 
Pilot, view, 337 
Prospect, lost on the trail, 

320, 326; under its shadow, 

340 
Shelving Rock, 343 
Spruce, 342 
Sugar-loaf, 343 
Tongue, 337, 343 
Trembleau, north end of 

Adirondacks on Lake Cham- 
plain, 356 
White Face, high peak, 356 
Murray, Lord John, 145 

N 

Nadeau, J. E., 360 
Neuters, 88, 89, 90, 93 
New Hampshire Grants, 229 
Niagara, 104 
Norridgewock, 170 
Notre Dame de Foy, 93 



O 



O'Callaghan, E. B., 151 

Ogilvie, Rev. Mr., 105 

Ogquagas, 105 

Ojibwas, 88 

Old-time steamboat captain, 365 

Oneidas, strength of, 19; French 

attempt to intimidate, 44, 45; 

Courcelle's explanation of 

failure, 47, 104 
Onondagas, strength of, 19; 

Jesuit priests among, 91-93; 
Oriskany, 147; failure of Bur- 

goyne's plan at, 272 
Otstungo, 12 
Ottawas, 88 
Otter Creek, 37 
Ottrowana, Cayuga sachem, 109 



378 



Index 



Paltsits, Victor Hugo, 332 

Parce, Rev. Dwight R., 341 

Parker, Colonel, 131 

Parkman, Francis, 9, 41, 113, 
139, 145, 170 

Parks, Cyrenus, 261, 263, 267 

Parks, Joseph, 263 

Peabody, Geo. T., 341 

Pell, Rowland, 227 

Pell, Mrs. H. P., proposed re- 
storation of Ticonderoga, 228; 
Pell mansion, 353 

Penfield, E. H., of Bolton, N. Y., 
342 

Penobscot, 169 

Phagan, Elizabeth, 295 

Phillips, General, 240 

Pierre, 65 

Pierron, 92 

Piscaret, his battle with Mo- 
hawks, 96-99 

Plattsburg, battle of, 299-301 

Plattsburg, services at, 228; 
burning of PhoBnix, 297; bat- 
tle of, 299-301 

Plattsburg Bay, 299 

Pointe au la Chevelure, sup- 
posed scene of first battle, 20; 
name for Crown Point, 1689, 
224; last night, 352-356 

Ponce de Leon, 2 

Pont le Rov, chief engineer, 
248 

Pope, Mrs. Hannah, 183 

Port Henry, 354-356; iron 
mines, 364 

Potter, Christopher, 307 

Potts, Dr. Jonathan, 307 

Poultney River, 37 

Poutrincourt, Baron de, 10, 11 

Praying Indians, on the St. 
Lawrence, 93-95; St. Francis 
Indians, 171; Catholic In- 
dian captures Putnam, 189 

Prescott, General Richard, 237 

Prevost, Sir George, 299 

Prisoners' Island, 253 

Prospect Mountain, in a mist, 
314; location, 319 

Prosser, Elias, 307 

Putnam, John, 182 



Putnam, Israel, Major-General, 
with Lord Howe, 154; knew 
Howe was killed, 160; life of, 
182-183 

Putnam's ride, 192, 193 



Q 



Quackenbush, John, 287 

Quebec, Champlain's camp 
three hundred leagues from 
the Mohawk's country, 15; 
Madame Helene Champlain at, 
32, 40, 46; Tracy lands at, 
50, 51 ; Piscaret's party re- 
turns, 99; Arnold's march, 
236; Harris's party prison- 
ers at, 260 

Queensbury, History of, 260, 
320 

" Queen's Own Rangers," Rogers 
commanding, 181 



R 



Raffeix, Pierre, 92 

Ragueneau, Paul, 91 

Rale, Father Sebastian, death 
of, 170, 171 

Rattlesnakes, 227-330 

" Rattlesnake Cobble," 320 

Recluse Island, 338 

Recollets, 170 

Redhead, Onondaga sachem at 
Great Council, 106, 107, 108, 
110 

Richelieu River (Iroquois), 
Champlain on, 15; Cham- 
plain's second battle on, 18; 
Champlain's latitude of, 28; 
name of, 43; first fort on, 45; 
formerly called Sorel River, 
50; Piscaret on, 98; Arnold 
attacks St. John on, 238; 
Great Lakes flow through, 
280 

Richmond, A. G., 55 

Riedesel Baron, Major-General, 
at Hubbardton, 243, 271; at 
Fort Amherst, 330 

Roberval, Sieur de, voyage, 2, 7, 
8; story of Marguerite, 3-6 

Rocque, Jean Francois de la, 1,2 



Index 



379 



Rogers, Robert Major, pic- 
turesque personage, 140; with 
Lord Howe, 160; order from 
General Johnson, 174; John- 
son's opinion of, 180, 181; 
early connected with Major 
Putnam, 187; in battle with 
Marin, 188, 189, 253; Rogers's 
escape, 347 

Rogers's rangers, 173, 178, 187, 
226 262 

Rogers's Rock, 179, 336, 345, 
347 

Rogers's Rock Hotel, 346, 347 

Rogers's Slide, 179, 180 

Roubaud, Pierre, 128-131, 135 

Rouse, Jacques, 335 

Rouse Point, 27, 37; Arnold at, 
234, 302, 335 

Rutland, 245 

Ruttenber, E. M., 247 



Sabbath-day Point, Amherst at, 
131 ; Abercrombie's landing, 
154; in the town of Hague, 
336, 343 
Sable Island, 9 
Sacred Heart Church, 268 
Sandy Hill, 286 
Saranac River, 23, 36, 37 
Saratoga County, 52, 352 
Saratoga, old, 226, 236, 246 272, 

277, 278, 290 
Scai-ron Lake, 14 
Scarron River, 14, 315 
Schenectady, 46, 47, 277 
Schoharie River, 78, 79 
Schoonhoven, Mr., 286, 287 
Schuyler, Major Peter, 247, 248 
Schuyler, Philip, describes old 
Fort George, 232; in command 
at Ticonderoga, 238, 241, 244, 
245; harasses Burgoyne, 271 
Seneca River, 263 
Senecas, number of warriors, 

19; some at La Prairie, 93 
Shaw, Daniel, 307 
Sheldon House, 267, 268 
Shelving Rock, 243 
Sherman, J., Vice-President, 228 
Sherman, Richard M., 297-298 



Shirley, William, at council at 
Alexandria, Va., 104; Hen- 
drick scores him, 114, 115, 116 
Sillery, 99 
Silver Bay, 343 
Simpson, John B., 341 
Skene, Philip, captured, 238; 
secures large patent for land, 
288, 289 
Skenesboro, 238; St. Clair sends 
beggars and supplies to, 241; 
settled by Philip Skene, 288, 
289; Colonel Brown at, 331 
Sorel, 15, 238, 271, 302, 350 
Souriquois, 88 
South Bay, 118, 119 
Spaniards, 1 

Spoflford's Gazetteer, 224, 287 
Sprakers, 55 
St. Augustine, 359 
St. Clair, Arthur, Major-Gen- 
eral, commands at Ticonde- 
roga, 238; size of garrison 
inadequate, 239; call council 
of war, 241; evacuates Fort 
Ticonderoga, 242, 245, 271; 
crosses bi'idge of boats, 286; 
burns Skenesboro, 289 
St. Francis Indians, village de- 
stroyed by Rogers's rangers, 
169-^171; sacked and burnt, 
176 
St. Francois du Sault, 94 
St. Francois Xavier du Prez, 94 
St. John, Arnold surprises, 238; 

Burgoyne at, 270 
St. Lawrence River, Champlain 
sails up, 9; Kryn visits, 93, 
94, 98; French mission on, 
101; Caughnawagas on, 111, 
125, 126, 128, 149, 170; Bill 
Harris, 266 ; bloody trail from, 
280; grants made on, 294 
St. Leger, Colonel Barry, his 
army turned back at Oris- 
kany, 236; approach of Ar- 
nold creates panic, 272 
Stadcone, 2, 11 
Stanton, John, 304 
Stanwix, General John, 147 
Stark, Major John, 154, 160, 
179; Rogers rescued by Stark, 
180, 253; at Hoosic, 272 



3«o 



Index 



Steamers: 

Burlington, 298 

Caldwell, 308 

Chatnplain, 309 

Clermont, 309 

Congress, 309 

General Greene, 309 

Horicon, 309 

,7o/m Jat/, 309, 344 

Minnehaha, 309 

Mohican, 309 

Mountaineer, 309 

Phoenix, 309; burning of the, 
298 

Phoenix 2d, 309 

Sagamore, 309, 346 

Ticonderoga, 309 

Vermont, 309 
Stevens, Arent, 105, 109 
Stoddard, S. R., 341, 344 
Stone, W. L., 140 
Surrendered troops, convention 

of, 274, 275 
Sylvester, Nathaniel Bartlett, 

author of Adirondack Wil- 
derness, 42 



Taft, President William M., at 

Tercentenary, 228 
Tercentenary, 227, 339, 361, 362 
Therese, legend of, 56-85 
Thevet, Andre, 5, 7, 8 
Thierot, Miss Henrietta, 341 
Thompson, Colonel Robert, 228 
Ticonderoga, at mouth of Lake 
George, 15; latitude of, 17, 22, 
24, 27-29; French build fort 
at, 127; Abercrombie attacks, 
143-147; partly reconstructed, 
148, 151, 153; death of In- 
verawe, 165, 172, 173, 174, 
178, 228; Gates's head- 
quarters, July, 1776, 228, 238; 
retreat from, 242-246, 249- 
250; Grenadier Battery, 255; 
ramble, 252-258, 347, 353, 
356 
Ti-on-on-da-ro-ga, 60, 64, 78 
Tobacco Nation, 88, 89 
Tracy-Courcelle, 48 



Tracy, Marquis de, expedition 
against the Mohawks, 45-54, 
112; his officers built forts, 
302, 347 

Travesy, Sieur de, 56, 64, 73 

Trout Brook, Lord Howe killed 
at, 156, 159; ramble, 253-256 

Trout Pavilion, 268 

Tryon, General William, Gov- 
ernor State of New York out- 
laws Ethan Allen and others, 
229; surprised General Put- 
nam at Breakneck Hill, 192 

Tuscaroras, 88 



U 



Union Cemetery, Fort Edward, 

293 
Ursulines, 62, 85 



Van Corlear, Arent, 48 ; assisted 
wounded French soldiers, 48; 
drowned, 49, 100, 101 

Van Deusen, George, 307 

Van Wormer's Bay, 173, 268; 
post-glacial outlet, 280; Col- 
onel Brown driven into, 331 

Vaudreuil, Marquis Philip Ri- 
gaud, 248, 277 

Vermont, 37 

Verrazano, Giovanni de, sailed 
up New York Bay, 2 

W 

Warner, Seth, 229, 242, 357 
Washington, George, his troops 
at Great Meadows fired a 
volley that echoed around the 
world, 113; Putnam next in 
rank to, 182, 183 
Waterbury, General, 235 
Webb, Major-General Daniel, at 
Fort Edward with four thou- 
sand troops, 127; Monro calls 
for reinforcements, 133, 134. 
140, 141 
Westport, 355 
White, Stewart Edward, 173 



Index 



381 



Whitehall (Skenesboro), 17, 37, 

118, 285 
Whiting, Lieutenant-Colonel, 120 
Williams, David, 347 
Williams, Colonel Ephraim, 

killed, 120; on the bloody 

trail, 278 



Windmill Point, 27 

Winooski River, 37 

Wolf's Den, 183-186 

Wolfe, General James, 35, 128 

Wood Creek, 26, 117, 118, 189, 

287, 354 
Wraxall, Peter, 105 



A Selection from the 
Catalogue of 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 



Complete Catalogues sent 
on application 



The Siory of 0\^ Fort 
Johnson 



A Companion Book to " The Mohawk Valley'' 



By W. Max Reid 

8vo, with 40 Illustrations by y. Arthur Maney. 
Net, $3.00. {By mail, $S-2s) 



The title of Mr. Reid's volume indicates sufficiently 
the character and purpose of the work. The book does 
not claim to present a critical history of Sir. Wm. John- 
son, the grand old man of frontier literary life, although 
his name, of necessity, dominates nearly every page. It 
does present, however, certain stirring and dramatic epi- 
sodes in the strenuous life of Johnson, and describes the 
events of historic interest and of picturesque character 
which occurred within a circle of a hundred miles of 
the old fort. The volume begins with a charming bit 
of romance and ends with another, both of which have 
been woven out of incidents that are historically correct. 
The intervening chapters contain many facts of historic 
interest that are now given to the public for the first 
time. 



SEND FOR ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTIVE CIRCULAR 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

New York London 



THE MOHAWn 
VALLEY 

Its Le^endis and its History 



By W. Max Reid. With Seventy Full-page Il- 
lustrations from Photographs by J. Arthur 
Maney. 8vo. (By mail, $3-75-) Net, $3.50 



There is no section of pleasant valley-land, of lake- 
and forest-dotted wilderness, of rushing streams and cul- 
tivated fields, east of the Mississippi, that surpasses in 
its wealth of scenery that bit of the Empire State known 
as the Mohawk Valley. It is natural that such a land 
should be rich in romance, both legendary and historical. 
From Schenectady to Rome, every town has its romantic 
story of the French Wars or the Revolution, every bit of 
woodland has its wealth of pre-historic legend. 

Many characters of national interest figure prom- 
inently in this record of the Mohawk Valley, while war- 
like Indians, black-robed Jesuits, French officers, and 
early English settlers — the picturesque population of 
the Valley a century ago — live again in its pages. Pho- 
tographs and sketches of persons, places, and events 
profusely illustrate the volume and aid the imagination 
of the reader who knows and loves the Valley of to- 
day. 

G, P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

Ne'w YorK London 



American W aterways 
The Romance of the Colorado River 

The Story of its Discovery in 1 540, with an account of the Later 
Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell 
through the Line of the Great Canyons. 

By Frederick S. Dellenbaugh 

Member of the United States Colorado River Expedition of 1871 and 1872 

435 pages, with 200 Illustrations, and Frontispiece in Color. S3,50 net 

" His scientific trainmg, his long experience in this region, and his eye 
for natural scenery enable him to make this account of the Colorado River 
most graphic and interesting. No other book equsJly good can be writ- 
ten for many yecirs to come — not until our knowledge of the river is 
greatly enlarged." — The Boston Herald. 

" Mr. Dellenbaugh writes with enthusiasm and balcmce about his 
chief, and of the canyon with a fascination that make him disinclined to 
leave it, and brings him thirty years later to its description with undimin- 
ished interest. — New York Tribune. 



The Ohio River 

A COURSE OF EMPIRE 
By Archer B. Hulbert 

Associate Professor of American History, Marietta College, 
Author of " Historic Highways of America," etc. 

390 pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net 

An interestmg description from a fresh point of view of the interna- 
tional struggle which ended with the English conquest of the Ohio Basin, 
and includes many interesting details of the pioneer movement on the Ohio. 
The most widely read students of the Ohio Valley will find a unique and 
unexpected interest in Mr. Hulbert's chapters dealing with the Ohio River 
in the Revolution, the rise of the cities of Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Louis- 
ville, the fighting Virginians, the old-time methods of navigation, etc. 

"A wonderfully comprehensive and entirely fascinating book." — • 
Chicago Inter-Ocean. 



American W aterways 



Narragansett Bay 

Its Historic and Romantic Associations and Picturesque Setting 
By Edgar Mayhew Bacon 

Author of " The Hudson River," " Chronicles of Tarrytown," etc. 

340 pages, with 50 Drawings by the Author, and with Numerous 
Photographs and a Map. $3,50 net 

Impressed by the important and singular part played by the settlers 
of Narragansett in the development of American ideas and ideals, and 
strongly attracted by the romantic tales that are inwoven with the warp 
of history, as well £is by the incomparable setting the great bay affords for 
such a subject, the author offers this result of his labor as a contribution 
to the story of great American Waterways, with the hope that his readers 
may be imbued with somewhat of his own enthusiasm. 

" An attractive description of the picturesque part of Rhode Island. 
Mr. Bacon dwells on the natural beauties, the legendary and historical asso- 
ciations, rather than the present appearance of the shores." — N. Y . Sun. 



The Great Lakes 

Vessels That Plough Them, Their Owners, Theit Sailors, and Their Cargoes / 
together with A Brief History of Our Inland Seas 

By James Oliver Curwood 
244 pages, with 72 Illustrations and a Map. $3,50 net 

This profusely illustrated book, as entertaining d& it is informing, has 
the twofold advantage of being written by a man who knows the Lakes 
and their shores as well as what has been written about them. The gen- 
eral reader will enjoy the romance attaching to the past history of the 
Lakes and not less the romance of the present — the story of the great 
commercial fleets that plough our inland seas, created to transport the 
fruits of the earth and the metals that are dug from the bowels of the 
earth. To the business man who has interests in or about the Lakes, or 
to the prospective investor in Great Lakes enterprises, the book will be 
found suggestive. Comparatively little has been written of these fresh- 
■^ water seas, and many of his readers will be amazed at the wonderful 

story which this volume tells. 



Jlmerican W aterways 



The St. Lawrence River 

Historical — Legendary — Picturesque 
By George Waldo Browne 

Author of " Japan — the Place and the People," " Paradise of the Pacific," etc. 
385 pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 act 

While the St. Lawrence River has been the scene of many important 
events connected wath the discovery auid development of a large portion 
of North America, no attempt has heretofore been made to collect and 
embody in one volume a complete and comprehensive narrative of this great 
waterway. This is not denying that considerable has been written relating 
to it, but the various offermgs have been scattered through many volumes, 
and most of these have become inaccessible to the general reader. 

This work presents in a consecutive nanative the most important 
historic incidents connected with the river, combined with descriptions of 
some of its most picturesque scenery and delightful excursions into its 
legendeiry lore. In selecting the hundred illustrations caire has been taken 
to give as wide a scope as possible to the views belonging to the river. 



The Niagara River 

By Archer Butler Hulbert 

Professor of American History, Marietta College ; author of " The Ohio River," 
" Historic Highways of America," etc. 

350 pages, with 70 Illustrations and Maps, $3,50 net 

Professor Hulbert tells all that is best worth recording of the history 
of the river which gives the book its title, and of its commercial present 
and its great commercial future. An immense amount of carefully ordered 
information is here brought together into a most entertaining auid informing 
book. No mention of this volume can be quite adequate that fails to take 
into account the extraordinary chapter which is given to chronicling the 
mad achievements of that company of dare-devil bipeds of both sexes who 
for decades have been sweeping over the Falls in barrels and other 
receptacles, or who have gone dancing their dizzy way on ropes or wires 
stretched from shore to shore above the boiling, leaping water beneath. 



yl merican W aterways 



The Hudson River 

FROM OCEAN TO SOURCE 

Historical — Legendary — Picturesque 

By Edgair Mayhew Bacon 

Author of " Chronicles of Tarr>-town," " Narragansett Bay," etc. 

600 Pages, with 100 Illustrations, including a Sectional Map of the Hudson 
River. $3.50 net 

" The value of this hamdsome quarto does not depend solely on 
the attractiveness with which Mr. Bacon has invested the whole subject, 
it is a kind of footnote to the more conventional histories, because it 
throws light upon the life and habits of the earliest settlers. It is a study 
of Dutch civilization in the New World, severe enough in intentions to 
be accurate, but easy enough in temper to make a great deal of humor, 
and to comment upon those characteristic customs and habits which, while 
they escape the attention of the formal historian, are full of significeince.*' 

Outlook. 



The Connecticut River 

AND THE 

Valley of the Connecticut 

THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES FROM MOUNTAIN TO SEA 

Historical and Descriptive 

By Edwin Mumoe Bacon 

Author of " Walks and Rides in the Countrj' Round About Boston," etc. 

500 Pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. 53,50 net 

From ocean to source every mile of the Connecticut is crowded with 
reminders of the early explorers, of the Indian wars, of the struggle of the 
Colonies, and of the quaint, peaceful village existence of the early days of 
the Republic. Beginning with the Dutch discovery, Mr. Bacon traces 
the interesting movements and events which are associated with this chief 
river of New Ejigland. 



American Waterways 



The Columbia River 

Its History — Its Myths — Its Scenery — Its Commerce 
By William Denison Lymaai 

Professor of History in Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington 

430 pages, with 60 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net 

This is the first eflfort to present a book distinctively on the Columbia 
River. It is the intention of the author to give some special prominence 
to Nelson and the magnificent lake district by which it is surrounded. 
As the joint possession of the United States and British Columbia, and 
as the grandest scenic river of the continent, the Columbia is worthy of 
special attention. 

American Inland Waterways 

Their Relation to Railway Transportation and to the National 
Welfare ; Their Creation, Restoration, and Maintenance 

By Herbert Quick 
262 pages, with 80 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net 

A study of our water highways, and a comparison of them with the 
like channels of trade and travel abroad. This book covers the question 
of waterways in well-nigh all their aspects — their importance to the na- 
tion's welfare, their relations to the railways, their creation, restoration, and 
maintenance. Tlie bearing of forestry upon the subject in question is 
considered, and there is a suggested plan for a continental system of 
waterways. There are a large number of illustrations of the first interest. 

The Mississippi River 

And Its Wonderful Valley Twenty^five Hundred and Fifty 
Miles from Source to Sea 

By Julius Chambers 
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society 

Lake George smd Lake Champlain 

The War Trail of the Mohawk and the Battleground of France 

and England in their Contest for the Control of North America 

By W. Max Reid 

Author of " The Mohawk Valley," " The Story of Old Fort Johnson," etc. 

In Preparation 

Will be fully illustrated and will probably be published at $3,50 net 

The Story of the Chesapeake 

By Ruthella Mory Bibbins 















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